Union Local’s Laken Vinskovich takes the ball to the basket Monday through the two groups’ recreation inside Tolbert Gymnasium.
MARTINS FERRY — A fourth-quarter comeback put some vitality into Tolbert Gymnasium on Monday for a rivalry matchup between the Martins Ferry Purple Riders and visiting Union Local Jets. Though the Riders, down 16 factors at halftime, whittled the Jets’ result in six factors late within the recreation, Union Local managed to carry on for a 56-44 victory.
Though it’s nonetheless early within the season, Monday was already the second matchup between the 2 groups. Union Local additionally defeated Martins Ferry on Dec. 4, 57-51.
“We knew coming in here, this was gonna be a tough game against a really good team,” Union Local head coach Scooter Tolzda mentioned. “We beat them once and our girls were locked in and I thought we got out to a real good start in the first half. It was kind of a mirror of the first game. We get up by 16 or 17 in both games and then they start chipping into it. It got a little tight, we started playing scared, we started playing passive, but I thought we made some free throws down the stretch and we hung in there.”
“We just came out soft and scared for the second game in a row against them,” Martins Ferry head coach Dave Reasbeck mentioned. “And it was worse this game. We just let them do what they wanted. We let them take the ball from us again. We let a girl from Union Local score, I think, 26 on us again, a different girl. We just didn’t come out like athletes should. But then we looked up at the scoreboard and we saw we were getting embarrassed, and we gave everything we had in the fourth quarter.”
A Gracie Lucas layup was followed-up by a Giana Chirpas straightaway 3-pointer to drag Martins Ferry inside six, 44-50, with 1:20 to play within the recreation, however the Purple Riders couldn’t get one other shot to fall the remainder of the way in which, whereas Union Local sunk free throws to push out their lead.
Martins Ferry placed on a full-court press within the second half, which paid main dividends within the fourth quarter, the place they pressured seven Union Local turnovers and created good scoring possibilities.
“We made some bad decisions,” Tolzda mentioned. “And, you know, no matter if they’re juniors and seniors, that’s a different game. Because now you’re battling the clock instead of the opponent. We’re gonna work on that. Hopefully we can get better, but it’s a good win. Beating them twice– I mean, we’ve only played six games, we’ve beaten Morton’s Ferry twice. I would’ve signed up for that at the beginning of the year. I’m proud of the girls’ effort.”
Laken Vinskovich poured in 25 factors to guide Union Local, whereas Ameera Saunders scored 15 and Alli Kellaway scored 10.
Giana Chirpas scored 11 for Martins Ferry, whereas SJ Koller scored 10.
Tolzda was pleased along with his group’s defensive efficiency.
“Ultimately I think it was our defense,” Tolzda mentioned. “We take a lot of pride in our defense, but I thought Delaney Butler, the job that she did on Chirpas– I thought we kept them off the free throw line. That was one of our goals, to defend without putting them at the free throw line. And I thought we hung in there on the boards. I mean, we made a lot of mistakes. We gotta clean that up. Hopefully we can. But it’s a big win heading into the middle of the season.”
Union Local strikes to 6-0 on the season, whereas Martins Ferry is now 5-3. The Riders subsequent play on Dec. 27, touring to Wheeling Park, whereas the Jets host Zanesville the identical day.
“We’ve got to decide what we are,” Reasbeck mentioned. “Are we the little women that performed within the first three quarters or are we the athletes who went one hundred percent, everything-to-the-wall within the fourth quarter?
“I’m proud of how we came back, but you can’t do it against a team that’s probably gonna lose about one game this year. Credit to [Union Local]. That’s the third time in a row they beat us. Hats off to ’em.”
