Defense helps Lower Moreland past Upper Moreland
UPPER MORELAND >> The post-holiday season has not been kind to either Upper Moreland or Lower Moreland.
At UM, the Golden Bearsare simply turning the ball over far too many times while at LM, the Lions are in the midst of a shooting slump, Saturday afternoon, the two ailments came to a head at Upper Moreland.
Lower Moreland didn’t shoot well again, but its defense forced a few extra turnovers and generated plenty of extra possessions as it took a 43-18 victory.
“The last couple games, we’ve just been struggling with it,” Upper Moreland coach Ed Decker said. “I told them if you give a team 20 free opportunities to touch the ball, you can’t win a game. We’re just in bad situation with that which we’re trying to figure out.”
Guard Rachel Millan encapsulated the game for Lower Moreland, scoring eight points on 3-of-11 shooting, but also pulling down five rebounds to go with six steals. The Lions had a lot of shots because they had a lot of possessions thanks to 25 Upper Moreland turnovers.
It was a rather slow start for both teams, with Lower Moreland matching the Bears turnover to turnover in the first few minutes, But LM eventually settled down and knocked in a few shots to take a 10-3 lead after a quarter. They wouldn’t be threatened much on the scoreboard after that, but never had a huge run to put the game to rest early.
“Defensively we made some adjustments and did some things that worked out,” Lions coach Rich Becker said. “THe girls did a good job of rotating and sliding back and that made a difference. We scored 43 but we didn’t shoot that well and you go through those parts of the season.”
Upper Moreland’s defenders knew who Lower Moreland’s shooters were and didn’t give them too many open looks. Luaren Killion, who led the Lions with 15, started 1-of-6 from 3-point range as the Bears tried to force her into shots a few feet out of her comfort range.
Lower Moreland led 21-8 at the half with Bears already at 19 turnovers. Millan scored all eight of her points in the first half to buoy the otherwise cold offense, though Killion did have five and Jordan Cohen chipped in four by halftime as well.
“She did a nice job and even when she’s not scoring, she steps up and does it in other ways,” Becker said. “She was just really active on defense, had her head on a swivel, saw the floor. I though her and Lauren in our halfcourt press did a good job of baiting.”
Upper Moreland got a nice effort out of Maddie Pisut, who played with a lot of hustle and energy on both ends of the floor. Pisut led the Bears with seven points and also chipped in three rebounds, a steal, assist and block. Decker said the wing has become the team’s best defensive player.
The Lions have been working on ways to get the offense back in gear and their ball movement was solid Saturday. Becker said they’ve been practicing a lot of no dribble offense and senior Erica Fleck, who had a game-high eight rebounds, did a solid job of swinging it through the high post.
“They’ll get out it,” Becker said. “They all shoot well and you go through these parts. I think they’re really close, a lot of the misses are in and out, they’re right there.”
For Upper Moreland, getting the turnovers under control is the biggest thing going forward. With the second half of Suburban One League American Conference play beginning next week, the Bears will face the teams with aggressive, athletic defenses that can feast on those turnovers.
“We have to stop trying to dribble 94 feet,” Decker said. “That’s what I’m trying to tell them, it has to be two, three dribbles and change it up. We have to know where the extra person is and not dribble with our heads down.”
