Addison Trail pulls away from Elgin in second half
Addison Trail had a 9-point lead at the half against Elgin on Monday that just felt slim. Something had to change in the second half.
That it did. The Blazers put their defense into overdrive, including dropping into a 2-3 zone late in the third quarter, and held the Maroons to just 12 second-half shots. But they didn't skimp on offense either, putting together a 13-4 run to start the third quarter that essentially put the contest away.
The result was a 49-33 victory in the fourth round of the 2016 Fenton/Addison Trail Thanksgiving Tournament. The Blazers improved to 2-1 on the young girls basketball season, while Elgin fell to 1-2.
"We talked about in halftime a better defense and pushing the ball faster on the wings so that we could drive to the basket and get quick points," said junior guard Nicci Scorza, who scored 10 of her team-high 16 points in the second half on 5-for-6 shooting. By contrast, the rest of her team scored just 11 on 3-for-13 shooting.
"We talked at halftime about really pressuring their wings on the entry, because in the first half we allowed them to make a lot of deep passes cross court," Blazers coach Rob Schader said. "We were sitting back way too much, we got up on them a little more and made it uncomfortable for them."
About the only Elgin player who wasn't affected much by Addison Trail's second-half changes was junior forward Kylie Graves, who scored 12 of her game-high 22 points in the second half. But even she could see the difference in the Blazers.
"They definitely changed it up on us and we haven't really played against a zone yet this season," said Graves, who leads the Maroons with 18 points a game. "I think we're going to get better against it, but they definitely figured out where the ball was landing and they covered that really well and we weren't able to adjust to it as well as we would like to."
Graves scored 3 points in her team's 5-0 run to end the first half, cutting the Maroons' deficit to 28-19. But Scorza took over to start the second half, hitting a layup at 6:51 of the third quarter, then a layup off her own miss 29 second later. She also hit a pullup jumper, and another from the top of the key 26 seconds later, that gave the Blazers a 39-24 advantage.
The Blazers shot 19 for 46 and outrebounded the Maroons 21-16. Elgin shot just 11 for 34 and turned the ball over 26 times.
"They're very quick," Elgin coach Nick Bumbales said. "They were pushing the ball up in transition and it's difficult, not getting our hands up on the wings. We haven't seen that quickness yet."