Stingy defense leads Aurora girls past Streetsboro

Saturday
Jan 6, 2018 at 7:02 PM Jan 6, 2018 at 7:31 PM

By JACOB RUFFO Correspondent

AURORA — Scoring droughts are hard to overcome, but, in most cases, it is possible.

However, for the Streetsboro girls basketball team, the 12-minute-plus scoring drought to start its game against Aurora was too much to overcome. The Lady Greenmen ended the first quarter with one point and did not make a field goal until there was just a little more than four minutes to go in the second quarter.

The Rockets could not make up the 18-point head start Aurora had and lost 44-19.

"I don’t know if they were doing anything particularly special against us," Streetsboro head coach Carl Singer said. "We just missed a lot of shots. We weren’t really running the sets we should have been running, either."

"We were playing straight man to man," Lady Greenmen head coach Erika Greenberg said. "We really pride ourselves in playing great defense. We really focused on trying to take away their top two offensive weapons early."

The Rockets committed eight turnovers in that first quarter, which led to a lot of fast-break opportunities. This was perfect for the free-flowing offense of Aurora, which made it to the rim often.

"We have some really talented players," Greenberg said. "I don’t want to turn them into robots. We run this sort of motion-heavy offense because these girls can really pass the ball. We think we have a lot of weapons, so this offense really helps us get them all involved."

The Lady Greenmen (10-2) were led by freshman Shyanne Sellers, who had 13 points, five rebounds and two blocks. Her older sister, Shayla, also performed well with seven points, four rebounds and two blocks. Hayley Ross had nine points as eight players scored for Aurora.

"She’s a great basketball player," said Greenberg about Shyanne, "She is only a freshman, too, and she’s a great player. If we can get her in the high post, she’s an excellent passer. She sees the floor really well.

"If we can get her the ball, it opens up everything for everybody else. Shyanne and Shayla are vital parts to what we do. They can do everything, so anything I ask them to do they excel at."

For the Rockets, only three players scored. Elizabeth Neff led the team with nine points. Rachel Bolyard, who is the leader of the Rockets offensively, was held to eight points.

"When Rachel has a day like this, it is tough to overcome," Singer said. "It’s really difficult because we really depend on her to be a leader and get the offense going."

Saturday
Jan 6, 2018 at 7:02 PM Jan 6, 2018 at 7:31 PM

By JACOB RUFFO Correspondent

AURORA — Scoring droughts are hard to overcome, but, in most cases, it is possible.

However, for the Streetsboro girls basketball team, the 12-minute-plus scoring drought to start its game against Aurora was too much to overcome. The Lady Greenmen ended the first quarter with one point and did not make a field goal until there was just a little more than four minutes to go in the second quarter.

The Rockets could not make up the 18-point head start Aurora had and lost 44-19.

"I don’t know if they were doing anything particularly special against us," Streetsboro head coach Carl Singer said. "We just missed a lot of shots. We weren’t really running the sets we should have been running, either."

"We were playing straight man to man," Lady Greenmen head coach Erika Greenberg said. "We really pride ourselves in playing great defense. We really focused on trying to take away their top two offensive weapons early."

The Rockets committed eight turnovers in that first quarter, which led to a lot of fast-break opportunities. This was perfect for the free-flowing offense of Aurora, which made it to the rim often.

"We have some really talented players," Greenberg said. "I don’t want to turn them into robots. We run this sort of motion-heavy offense because these girls can really pass the ball. We think we have a lot of weapons, so this offense really helps us get them all involved."

The Lady Greenmen (10-2) were led by freshman Shyanne Sellers, who had 13 points, five rebounds and two blocks. Her older sister, Shayla, also performed well with seven points, four rebounds and two blocks. Hayley Ross had nine points as eight players scored for Aurora.

"She’s a great basketball player," said Greenberg about Shyanne, "She is only a freshman, too, and she’s a great player. If we can get her in the high post, she’s an excellent passer. She sees the floor really well.

"If we can get her the ball, it opens up everything for everybody else. Shyanne and Shayla are vital parts to what we do. They can do everything, so anything I ask them to do they excel at."

For the Rockets, only three players scored. Elizabeth Neff led the team with nine points. Rachel Bolyard, who is the leader of the Rockets offensively, was held to eight points.

"When Rachel has a day like this, it is tough to overcome," Singer said. "It’s really difficult because we really depend on her to be a leader and get the offense going."