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Versailles
junior Amanda Winner gets two of her four points during the
Lady Tigers 54-25
victory over St. Henry Thursday. CNO photos by Dylan
Knoop.
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V-Lady Tigers remain undefeated in MAC play
Versailles rolls St. Henry
By George Starks
VERSAILLES- “This team is not an oven, we’re a microwave. It
takes time for us to heat up,” said Versailles Lady Tigers coach Jackie
Stonebreaker of her team.
Stonebreaker referred to her team in this manner after the Tigers
steam-rolled St. Henry Thursday in MAC play, 54-25.
While the victory looked like a runaway from the start with the 19
point difference, it was anything but that.
The Redskins jumped on Versailles from the opening tip, claiming a 13-8
lead after eight minutes of play.
In that frame, St. Henry was up by as much as a 10-2 count and was
looking to blow the Tigers off their home floor.
Trailing by eight in the opening quarter, Versailles committed nine
turnovers helping the Redskin cause.
That’s when the Versailles defense kicked in.
Unlike the opening eight minutes, the second eight was totally
different.
With St. Henry up 15-8, junior Kayla McEldowney knocked down a trey
with 3:59 remaining and that was enough for coach Kurt Huelsman to
bring on a time-out.
It wasn’t enough to stop the Tigers.
By the end of the half, Versailles, despite eight more miscues, had
held the Redskins to a miniscule two points and had outscored St.
Henry, 10-2 to hold a 18-15 lead at the break.
In the second quarter, the Tiger defense forced five more St. Henry
turnovers and it was evident, the Redskins were slowing down.
“We get off to slow starts but we wear teams down,” said Stonebreaker.
“I think that’s been the story of about every game this year is that we
just wear you down. We keep going at it and you could tell, St. Henry
got tired.”
While the Skins scored 13 in the opening frame, the Versailles defense
was relentless from that point on. The Tigers forced 18 more turnovers
in the second half, allowing the Redskins only 10 more points to post
the 19 point victory.
“We played good defense and Kayla (McEldowney) got hot,” Stonebreaker
said. “When that happened, it forced them to bring their defense
out and they couldn’t double down all the time on us.”
With eight treys hit in the game and 20 field goals total, the offense
sputtered at times.
“”We’re not shooting the ball real well inside,” Stonebreaker pointed
out. “Between Crista (Putoff) and Katie (Heckman) maybe they hit three
out of about 15 shots underneath. It looks like we don’t go hard at
them every day but I swear we do. It’s all about confidence and it’s a
mind game with them right now.”
Versailles, now 12-1 overall will face Lehman Catholic today at noon.
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Sophomore
Christa Putoff drives against a Redskin opponent Thursday at Versailles.
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