Last Friday, Marshall had problems scoring against the Madison zone in a loss. Wednesday night, against the Riverside Rams’ zone, the Statesmen had no such problems.
Marshall won the contest, 42-24. Marshall’s zone offense was so effective that late in the second quarter Riverside had to take a time out and call off its zone, down 23-7. The Statesmen scored 26 points in the first half–only three points less than they scored all game against Madison.
“I give the girls a lot of credit,” said Marshall coach Doug Sawitzky. “We took a lot of learning points from it [Madison], we knew the zone was going to be coming today…we’re in the midst of nine games in 19 days but we had a good day of zone practice yesterday and I was very encouraged.”
“It always helps when the threes are falling,” he added.
They certainly were in the first half. Marshall was 5-9 from beyond the arc before halftime, with four of the five starters hitting at least one. The Statesmen impressed with their passing and ability to attack gaps in the zone, forcing Riverside to play man-to-man in the second half.
That helped cool Marshall’s hot shooting off, but the Rams had another problem. They couldn’t score much themselves. Marshall held Riverside to 19% shooting from the field, with the Rams getting only three field goals the entire night inside the three-point line. While Riverside was able to essentially play Marshall even in the second half, the Rams couldn’t score enough to significantly cut into the lead.
Marshall (4-4) was led by freshman Anne Hall, who continues to impress with her ability to score within the framework of the Marshall offense. She had 12 points, while sophomore Katherine Kuczkowski added 11 points. Senior Hanna Rohde and sophomore Madison Evans added seven points apiece.
While Sawitzky’s bench didn’t score much, it played well, contributing almost half the team’s rebounds and playing solid defense. Senior center Shea Scott also had four blocks in limited playing time. Sawitzky, in his first year heading the girls program, was able to play 11 girls, and he has a versatile roster that can play big or small.
“It’s nice this year, we have a lot of young guards,” he said. “We’re still having a lot of turnovers–last year our assist to turnover ratio was pretty low–we’re just learning to play together in a system and hopefully building on that in subsequent years.”
Riverside (4-4) is also learning to play with younger talent, especially with longtime point guard Ella Mahaffey now playing at Colgate. On this night senior forward Sam Wiles led the way for the Rams with nine points.
–Chris Jollay
all statistics are unofficial
| MARSHALL | FG | FT | TP | REB | AST | |
| EVANS | 3-4 | 1-2 | 7 | 2 | 0 | |
| ROHDE | 3-7 | 0-0 | 7 | 2 | 3 | |
| HALL | 5-9 | 0-0 | 12 | 2 | 1 | |
| COLE | 1-4 | 0-0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | |
| KUCZKOWSKI | 2-5 | 5-9 | 11 | 5 | 2 | |
| Lee | 0-3 | 1-2 | 1 | 3 | 2 | |
| Lawlor | 0-2 | 0-0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | |
| Williams | 0-3 | 1-2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
| Scott | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | |
| Whitman | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Bowen | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | |
| TOTALS | 14-39 | 8-15 | 42 | 23 | 10 | |
| Threes: Kuczkowski 2-2, Hall 2-4, Rohde 1-2, Cole 1-3, Lawlor 0-1, Bowen 0-1 | ||||||
| RIVERSIDE | FG | FT | TP | REB | AST | |
| LOUCKS | 1-5 | 3-6 | 6 | 2 | 2 | |
| HOBIENA | 2-6 | 0-2 | 4 | 4 | 2 | |
| WILES | 2-11 | 4-4 | 9 | 3 | 0 | |
| BLUBAUGH | 0-3 | 2-2 | 2 | 4 | 0 | |
| CARLONE | 0-2 | 0-0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | |
| R.Brown | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | |
| M.Brown | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | |
| Gordon | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Rose | 1-2 | 0-0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | |
| Bonso-Bruce | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| TOTALS | 6-31 | 9-14 | 24 | 25 | 5 | |
| Threes: Rose 1-1, Loucks 1-3, Wiles 1-5, Hobiena 0-1, Carlone 0-1, Gordon 0-1, Blubaugh 0-2 | ||||||