COLONY — Southern Coffey County High’s girls opened the 2020-21 season in style Thursday, with a healthy mix of torrid outside shooting, strong inside play, and plenty of defense.
The Lady Titans pulled ahead after halftime and rolled to a 48-33 win over Crest in the season-opener for both teams.
The key, SCC head coach Jeff True said, came when the Lady Titans began hitting from outside, courtesy of Emersyn Hall.
“Emy came up big for us on the outside, and it helped loosen things up on the inside,” True said.
With more space to maneuver down low, SCC’s Jalea True took advantage early in the third quarter. She scored the Lady Titans’ next six points, turning a 23-22 deficit into a 28-25 lead.
Southern Coffey County never trailed again.
“We’ve gotta have her doing that,” Coach True said. “If she wants to get a shot off, there shouldn’t be anybody able to stop her.”
Josie Weers and Kyra Ohl took it from there, combining to score the next seven points and open a 35-25 lead late in the period.
Crest never got within nine points after that. Hall’s fourth 3-pointer of the contest early in the final period pushed the Lady Titan lead to double digits for good.
The game was nip-and-tuck until SCC’s third-quarter run.
The squads traded the lead seven times in the first half before Crest went into the break up 21-19. Weers and Hall did most of the damage for Southern Coffey County, scoring eight points apiece, while Anna Hermreck and Aubree Holloran kept the Lady Lancers afloat. Hermreck scored six of Crest’s points in the first quarter; Holloran had eight of Crest’s 13 in the second.
“The third quarter set the tone,” Crest head coach Megan Mason said. “It’s what killed us last year, and it hurt us again tonight.”
True said much of SCC’s defense was focused on slowing Holloran.
“I like to play straight up (man-to-man) defense early in the year, but we also didn’t want to come over here and have her beat us,” True said. When we did back off on her a couple of times, she immediately stepped up and hit a couple of 3’s.”
True credited the defense of Ross Snovelle and Taryn Lather against Crest’s lone senior, who wound up with 15 points, five rebounds, three assists and two steals, with a block
“They traded off on her, and 99% of the game, they did a good job of limiting what she wanted to do,” True said.
Mason said it’s up to Crest’s supporting cast to pick up the slack.
