12/2/2009
Blackhawks Stay In To Win
Reprinted with permission from The News Dispatch

Ken Peterson
The News-Dispatch

MICHIGAN CITY - Neither Westville or Marquette's girls basketball team's were able to put on a stellar performance Tuesday night at The Scholl Center.

But coach John Marshall's Blackhawks used their experience to overcome the inexperienced, but gritty Blazers in a 50-34 win.

Rachel Pfledderer had 18 points, Caitlyn Fennel 13 and Brandy Bogart 11 as Westville bounced back into the win column after going 0-2 in the John Glenn Tournament over the weekend.

"It's a game that I thought we could control the tempo and we made a lot of mistakes," said Marshall. "We made some really bad passes and we shot horrible (20-of-60)."

Most of the Blackhawks (4-3) misses were near the basket as they had point blank shot but didn't use the backboard to aid the shots in.

"At one time, we had three shots within five feet and we missed all three of them," Marshall said. "We had shots and we created shots, but it's a matter of us executing. We were in the right spot, but we were a second or two late on the pass or we just made a bad decision. We've got a lot to work on and they know it. And they know we didn't play our best game. We need to correct some things."

Westville pressed throughout most of the game and stayed in a zone designed to force Marquette (0-3) to hit from the perimeter. The Blazers finished 9-of-40 from the field, 2-of-9 from three-point range.

"We kind of stayed in the 2-3 most of the time," Marshall said. "(Marquette) played hard. They're more athletic than what they were last year."

Mary Salyer had 12 points and Sam Taylor also had 12 to lead coach Rob Smith's green Blazers.

"Sam is our senior point guard and she is our leader," Smith said. "She hit some big shots for us. She is one of the veterans. She knows when to step up and she has to step up more. She is not afraid to take a shot and she's not afraid to move the ball up in transition."

Smith said Westville's game experience was a major difference.

"Those (Westville) girls, this is their seventh game this year," Smith said. "And that's more games than 90 percent of my girls have played in their career. We're building with a team that doesn't have a lot of experience. I have got three girls that have played varsity basketball -- ever before this year. The rest haven't played since grade school. These girls are literally learning on the job and we're going to have nights where we are going to take our lumps. But the big picture is we are getting better every day and that's all I care about."

Smith's said his biggest challenge so far this season is teaching the team the basic fundamentals of the game and breaking it down to minute detail.

"Wins are going to come," he said. "We have to work on the things that we can control. And what we can control is how we run our offense and how we work on defense and how we do the little things."

Neither team set the world on fire in the opening quarter, shooting a combined 4-of-23 in the opening quarter as Westville led 7-5 at the end of one.

But the Blackhawks took control with a 15-8 second quarter and built a 22-13 lead at intermission on back-to-back baskets by Brandy Bogart.

Marquette trailed 30-21 late in the third quarter before two Salyer free throws and a Taylor free throw cut the margin to six. Baskets by Ashley Haack and Bogart pushed Westville's lead back to 10.

The Blazers finished 9-of-40 shooting from the field, 2-of-9 from beyond the arc.

"We're very athletic," Smith said. "We need to get into transition more and push the ball. When we did that, we were successful and we crashed the boards and got to the line."