AMANDA — Amanda-Clearcreek jumped out to an early lead behind the scoring of junior Katelynn Connell on the way to a 54-33 win over visiting Logan Elm Tuesday night.
Connell scored the first basket of the night and had put in 11 points in the first quarter as the Aces (2-2, 2-1) went up 20-7. By the time the game came to an end, she had scored 24 points and grabbed 11 rebounds.
“Katelynn has really stepped up,” AC coach Cary James said. “She has a lot of potential and she’s gaining a lot of experience and confidence these last couple games.”
Connell had four more points early in the second period to go with a three-pointer from Kilynn Guiler and a three-pointer from Alyssa Evans as the Aces went out in front 30-7 with 5:25 left in the half.
The basket by Evans was the first of the night for the Aces’ leading scorer.
“I even said something to her, I said, ‘I love this. You have zero points and we’re up by 15,’” James said he told his senior in between quarters. “I thought Alyssa was an A+. She had assists. Defensively, (Abby) Hatter wasn’t scoring. (Evans) was doing everything we asked her to do and she hadn’t scored and we still had 20 points.
“It wasn’t that she was out of the offense, she was distributing the ball to other people within our offense.”
The Aces held a 33-19 lead at halftime and held LE to six points in the third quarter to go up 45-25 after three quarters.
Nine turnovers in the first quarter contributed to the Braves (3-2, 1-2) falling behind and they weren’t able to get their offense going the rest of the night.
“We talk about winning the first three minutes of the game,” LE coach Tom Congrove said. “It was all Amanda-Clearcreek. They turned it up and we didn’t handle it. I think we are a team that can handle it, but we didn’t show that tonight.
“I thought we had people in the right places at times but they forced the speed of the game and we didn’t handle it.”
Along with 24 from Connell, Evans put in 15 to lead the Aces.
Hatter and Brynn Griffith each had 10 points to lead the Braves.
Hatter had 20 points in the Braves’ previous two games and James challenged Evans with keeping her scoring down.
“We challenged Alyssa to really make Hatter work for anything,” James said. “She had done a really good job Friday night on (Bloom-Carroll’s Makenzie) Mason (two points) and we challenged her again tonight.
“We’re asking a lot of her – we’re asking her to handle the basketball, guard the other team’s best player, score and distribute the ball. So we’re asking her to do a lot and she’s doing it successfully right now.”
AC finished the night with a 30-26 rebounding edge led by Connell’s 11 and six from Emma Butterbaugh. Riley Schultz led the Braves with six and Griffith grabbed five.
The Aces are back in action Thursday as they take a trip to Bishop Hartley.
The Braves will next travel to Circleville for a Saturday afternoon matchup.
- Logan Elm was a 34-15 winner in the reserve game.
Ashton Fox led the Braves with nine points, Annie Karshner had eight, Sydney Spires, Destiny Whitt and Sydney Fultz each had four points, Brylee Haupt had three and Rylee Mapes added two.
Sarah Sharp had four points to lead the Aces, Becca White had three and Madison Durr, Stephanie Bowers, Emalee Slone and Abby Carver each had two points.
Amanda-Clearcreek 54, Logan Elm 33
Logan Elm — Thomas 1-0-2, Hatter 4-1-10, Hardin 2-0-4, Schultz 1-0-2, Diehl 1-2-5, Griffith 5-0-10. Three-point goals — Hatter, Diehl. Totals — 14-43 3-8 33.
Amanda-Clearcreek — Guiler 3-0-9, Hyme 1-0-3, Connell 9-6-24, Butterbaugh 1-1-3, Evans 3-7-15. Three-point goals — Guiler (3), Hyme, Evans (2). Totals — 17-38 14-17 54.
Quarter scores 1 2 3 4 F
Logan Elm 7 12 6 8 33
Am.-Clearcreek 20 13 12 9 54
The Howley Report 