DELAWARE — It took three minutes for the Amanda-Clearcreek Aces’ offense to get rolling. Unfortunately, for the East Knox High School girls basketball team, it took much longer.
The Aces, who got a 23-0 head start, put an end to the Bulldogs’ basketball season in their first round Division III Central District Sectional match on Wednesday evening at Delaware Hayes High School, 57-36.
The Bulldogs, who were held scoreless until 2:19 left in the opening half, were outplayed in every phase of the game during the first half — especially under the boards. Clearcreek center Gretchen Meyer pulled down eight of her team’s 20 rebounds, while leading all scorers with 14 points. Fellow Aces Cara Thaxton and Aimee Hall, both guards, each added 12 points. Abby Meyer added nine more points for the Aces.
“We had our ups and downs,” East Knox coach Daryl Uhde said. “We played really well this year and then we played some games that were sort of like this, where nothing went in and nothing was working. We would fumble the ball, throw it away and we would get rolling on that side and it would just get worse. I don’t know if they put pressure on themselves or they just panicked. It’s hard to tell exactly what happened. We looked a step slower. (Clearcreek) beat us down court quite a few times.”
Incredibly, the Bulldogs managed to pull themselves together and, after getting behind by 23, they outscored the Aces, 36-34, for the remainder of the game.
Sierra Mazzaro had the hot hand from the outside for the Bulldogs, hitting three 3-pointers and totaling 11 points to lead her team. Josie Burwell added five points, Megan Morris and Melissa Tindall each had four for the Bulldogs.
“We didn’t quit,” said Uhde, whose team was down 30-6 at the half. “That’s what we talked about at halftime. It’s hard when you’re down by that much. We played hard. Our kids came on and did a good job. There just wasn’t much that we could do after the first half except talk about playing hard, executing and all those good things.”
Uhde can only look ahead as most of his team will return next year. The Bulldogs only lose senior starters Lynn Tullos (two points, four rebounds) and Leslie Schultz (three points) to graduation this year.
“We have 13 of 15 (players) coming back, but it’s going to take more than coming back,” said Uhde. “Champion teams have three things — pride, passion and commitment — and that commitment part is the offseason and that’s about making yourself better and making the team better. If the young kids do that, then we could be good the next three of four years.”
