Unionville uses quick start to rout Oxford
EAST MARLBOROUGH >> There’s no mountains near Unionville High School, but that didn’t prevent an avalanche from falling on the Oxford girls basketball team in the first quarter of their Ches-Mont League American Division contest Thursday.
The Longhorns scored the first 17 points of the game and went on to cruise to a 59-24 victory.
The Hornets (0-2 Ches-Mont American, 7-4) missed their first eight shots and committed 10 turnovers as their three-game winning streak was snapped.
“How do I explain the start? We played scared for the first five minutes,” said Oxford coach Paul Day. “We’re made up of five sophomores and three seniors on our varsity team. We just came out a little bit scared and it spread through the rest of the team. We are better than that and we’ll prove it when have the opportunity to play them back at our place.”
Unionville’s three-guard lineup seemed to have the Hornets flummoxed as simple passes went awry and shots — open or contested — went off the mark.
“We went into the man press we’ve worked on recently and everything just started to flow,” said Riley Angstadt. “We got turnovers on them and finished really well in the first couple of minutes.”
The Longhorns’ run was fueled by six points each from Angstadt and Elle Johnson. They were up 17-0 before Kate Kline’s right-side 3-pointer with 2:45 left temporary ended the Hornets’ misery.
One more Angstadt basket put the capper on a 19-3 first period and set the Longhorns (2-1, 8-3) for the remainder of the game. Coach Fred Ellzy laughed when asked if he wished every game started like that.
“I do,” he said. “The girls have been playing hard. They’ve been playing hard in practice and it carried over into the games.
“Finishing around the basket,” Ellzy said when asked what made him the happiest about the start. “We focus on the big three, finishing, turnovers and rebounds, so that’s a big focus every time we step on the floor. I give the girls all the credit. They followed the game plan and are doing the things we ask them to do.”
Oxford missed all but one of its 14 shots in the first eight minutes.
While Oxford scored nine points in the second, Unionville still doubled them up. The lead reached 20 points (32-12) after Shannon Megill scored two of her eight points in the quarter. Baskets from Megill and Milana Amoss ended the half and pushed the advantage to 37-12 at the break.
The lead continued to grow in the second half. Unionville led 52-20 after three. Ellzy pulled his starters in the fourth and they saw the game out. Unionville has now won three in a row and will travel to Interboro on Saturday.
Angstadt led the way with 16 points, Johnson had 13 and Megill and Amoss had eight apiece.
“We have a lot of confidence,” Angstadt said about heading into the second half of the season. “We’ve beaten some good teams and I’m confident and excited about the future.”
“Riley, she’s our senior, she’s our captain,” added Ellzy. “She sets the tone for this team. She’s been with me for four years and has been our point guard for four years. It’s paid off big time. She’s really a valuable player on this team.”
Unionville 59, Oxford 24
Oxford: Kline 2 0-0 6; Johnson 2 1-4 5; Ferrario 0 0-2 0; Patterson 2 0-0 5; Voss 1 0-0 2; Frank 0 0-0 0; Eshleman 2 2-2 6. Totals: 9 3-8 24.
Unionville: Kucharczuk 1 0-0 2; Lang 0 2-2 2; Amoss 3 0-0 8; D’Angelo 3 0-0 7; Johnson 6 0-0 13; Davis 0 0-0 0; Della Barba 0 1-2 1; Angstadt 5 6-6 16; Megill 4 0-0 8; Menniger 0 0-0 0. Totals: 22 9-10 59.
Oxford 3 9 8 4 — 24
Unionville 19 18 15 7 — 59
3-point goals: Kline 2, Patterson, Amoss 2, D’Angelo, Johnson.
