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Turned Over: Lady Bulldogs pick off Lovejoy for season sweep
BY Matt Welch, mwelch@starlocalnews.com
MCKINNEY -- Should any team look to spoil the McKinney North girls basketball team's bid for a District 13-4A Championship, they'd be wise to make ball security top priority.
Sometimes it's just of a team's hands though, and that was the case for Lovejoy, which found itself on the woeful end of both the turnover count and the final score at 55-45 Tuesday night.
"[Lovejoy] was trying to pick up a game on us, so we knew they'd be motivated for this one," said Michael Oldham, North head coach. "They actually have a lot of bad matchups for us and give us trouble, so I was glad to get a win."
"That was the bottom line, we didn't take care of the ball," said Lisa Branch, Lovejoy head coach. "I thought we didn't keep our composure and were very insecure with the ball. The more they pressed, the faster we went."
North forced 11 turnovers in the first quarter, setting the tone for the team's 30 total takeaways on the night.
"That's our game and what we try to do," Oldham said. "We like to get up into the 60s by [forcing turnovers] and we were able to do that more tonight than we were at their place."
North's only drawback was that it took a quarter before the offense caught up to the defense.
With Lovejoy junior Stephanie Lewerenz scoring five of her nine points in the first quarter to pull the Lady Leopards to within 14-9, Lovejoy was limited to just five points in the second stanza.
By contrast, North scored 13 although producing in half-court sets proved trickier than anticipated. Dealt a mix of man and zone defenses by Lovejoy, the latter proved especially troubling in the first half.
Fortunately, North senior Alexis Mason was there to alleviate any concerns by converting a spinning layup and dropping a 3-ball to highlight her 19-point, four-steal, three-block effort as the Lady Bulldogs sunk Lovejoy into a 27-14 hole by halftime.
From there, the North defense took the reins as the tornado of Lady Bulldog limbs hounded the Lady Leopards for a total of 17 steals and 11 blocks in the victory.
Sophomore Chanterria Jackson chipped in plenty on that front in totaling 23 points, seven rebounds and six steals while junior Mikaehla Connor chipped in five points, four blocks and two steals, and junior Amy Kleynhans accounted for four points, four blocks and two steals.
"Chanterria's a crazy athlete and she puts it to great use," Oldham said. "There were several times where it didn't look like anyone was getting to the ball and there she comes out of the pack and laying it up."
The Lovejoy offense still found its chances though, overcoming the turnovers and finishing from the inside and beyond the arc.
Junior Shani Rainey stepped up her game over the final two quarters in particular, scoring 12 of her team-high 16 points in the second half while sophomore Paige Eberhart poured in 12 points.
"I'm assuming they just relaxed," Branch said. "I think playing from behind is what we do best because we have nothing to lose so we just go out and play. That was what we did best in the second half."
The Lady Leopards were able to trim the deficit down to as few as 51-43 with 1:18 to play and although North endured a minor cold streak from the line late in the contest, it wasn't enough to permit Lovejoy to come any closer as North remained unbeaten in district.
The Lady Bulldogs travel to Wylie at 6:30 p.m. Friday while Lovejoy hosts Denison at the same time.
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