Defense carries Downingtown East past Downingtown West
DOWNINGTOWN >> Just a week into the girls’ basketball season, it’s a little early to discern a whole lot, especially for squads with as many preseason question marks as Downingtown East and Downingtown West. But on Thursday – with the first of two regular season clashes taking place between these crosstown rivals – everything’s been accelerated.
[PHOTO GALLERY FROM THE BOYS AND GIRLS GAMES BETWEEN DOWNINGTOWN EAST AND WEST]
Right now, one thing is certain: neither side is very fluid at the offense end. But the Cougars are long and aggressive at the defensive end, and that was the difference as East topped the host Whippets, 32-24.
“We’ve jump right into playing a Ches-Mont game against a rival on the road,” said East head coach Tom Schurtz. “But there are no easy games on our schedule.”
With just one returning starter and a host of first time contributors, the Cougars (1-0, 2-1 overall) managed to pull away during a 21-minute mid-game stretch by holding West to just a single field goal. In all, it was a 19-3 surge, and it was monumental in such a low scoring affair.
“We have some work to do. Right now, we have to work a little harder at the offensive end,” said Whippets’ head coach Dave Johnson.
“We are still struggling to find ourselves on the offensive end,” Schurtz concurred. “While we grow into our new identity, we are just going to make defense our priority. We are focusing on making it difficult for opponents to get easy shots.
“The offense will come. There were spurts where we were clean and crisp at that end, and other where we weren’t. We will weather those with good defense.”
Trailing early, the Whippets staged a 13-2 run to open a six-point early in the second quarter, only to see the bottom drop out. West (0-1, 2-2 overall) managed to score just 10 points the rest of the way, including a single point in the third period.
“I thought our execution was pretty good,” Johnson said. “We got the shots that we wanted. I don’t know if it was tired legs, or not enough shots in the off-season. But they need to keep taking them, and they understand that.
“Seeing the ball go through the basket is going to make you fell a whole lot better, but we had our opportunities. The girls know it’s not going to be great at the beginning. We knew we would have to grow.”
With junior forward Olivia Williams leading the way, the Cougars scored eight of the last 10 first half points to knot the score at 18-all at the break. East then seized the lead for good in the second half as the Whippets were unable to connect on another shot from the field until the 4:13 mark of the fourth quarter. By then the deficit was 10.
“We got off to a decent start, and we rewarded ourselves by hitting our free throws,” Johnson said. “But in the second half, we didn’t make them. When you do something good at the offensive end of the court and come away with nothing, that’s demoralizing.”
East wasn’t great from the line (6-of-10) but West missed five of six in the final 16 minutes, which is no way to mount a comeback. And whether it was at the line or from the floor, the more the Whippets missed, the more their confidence level dipped.
“We got the tempo up and started pushing in transition, got into our sets and got some open shots,” said Williams, who scored a game-high 13 points for the Cougars despite missing much of the second half in foul trouble.
“We are solid on defense, and we have really good sets, so I think the offense will come. A lot of us haven’t played together much, so we will work on it and get better.”
Erin Phelan chipped in seven points for East. Nobody scored more than six for West.
“We are just trying to learn what it is to play varsity offensive basketball, but we are playing pretty tough on defense,” Schurtz explained. “We are long at every spot and we alter a lot of shots.
“We are trying to incorporate our size while still trying to find ways to keep the court open. We just haven’t solved that yet. I think if we trust in the process of what the offense can become, I think we will improve.”
Downingtown East 32
Downingtown West 24
Downingtown East: Tyrell 2 0-0 5; Dienes 0 2-2 2; Welker 0 0-1 0; Smuda 2 1-2 5; Phelan 3 1-2 7; Williams 5 2-3 13. Totals 12 6-10 32.
Downingtown West: Brown 3 0-0 6; Wenner 1 0-0 2; Bednarick 2 0-0 6; Couser 1 2-4 4; Nanni 1 4-8 6. Totals 8 6-12 24.
Downingtown East 10 8 8 6 – 32
Downingtown West 14 4 1 5 – 24
3-pointers: Tyrell, Williams, Bednarick 2.
