Quattro leads Hatboro-Horsham past Wissahickon
HORSHAM >> Wisshickon’s Julie Weber hit a three pointer with 4:22 left in the first quarter in the consolation game of the Hatter’s tip-off classic at Hatboro-Horsham High School Saturday evening.
Weber’s shot gave the Trojans a 6-2 lead over the host Hatters. The three ball would be the last field goal made by Wissahickon in 11:28 of game time as Wissahickon trailed for the rest of the contest before conceding to Hatboro-Horsham 60-32.
Offensively, the Trojans struggled to get quality looks. They were victims of being a young squad and the deficiencies that come along with it. Wissahickon did not move the ball well enough and did not make quick enough decisions to get the ball where it needed to be against a swarming Hatter defense.
“We changed our defense and when we started playing harder defense, defense creates offense,” Hatboro-Horsham coach Kathie Sims said.
The most effective offensive plays for Wisshickon involved a guard slashing to the net and putting up a shot through the teeth of the Hatter D. Early in the game, this resulted in the Trojans getting some looks at the free throw line, but that waned as Hatboro-Horsham adjusted and the Trojans failed to cash in on the opportunities they were given anyway.
“We went into a zone,” said Sims of the defensive adjustment. “Our big kids stepped in ahead of time. We were working on getting to the spot before instead of getting there at the same time.”
For Hatboro-Horsham, offensively the game went through Cassidy Quattro. The senior forward scored a game-high 25 points, registering at least one field goal and one made free throw in every quarter. Quattro got helped out by some good secondary scoring by Julia Thornton and Haley Seifert, who finished with six and nine points, respectively.
“She needed this (and) she’s very capable of that (kind of performance),” said Simms of Quattro. “Once we started to get everything going that’s when Cass had a good game (when) nothing was being forced.”
Although the game was already well in hand, Wissahickon put up a nice fight in the fourth quarter, pressing the Hatters’ ball handlers and forcing them into turnovers and leading to some transition opportunities. The fourth quarter pressure saw the Trojans win the final quarter 14-13.
“We’re young, but what we do have is athleticism,” Wissahickon coach Rodney Cline said. “We have 10 or 11 girls who can get out there and move their feet and play defense. What we realized instead of making it slow keeping the tempo, we wanted to start dictating the tempo instead of them dictating to us.”
