Cory-Rawson’s Hayley Waltz heads to the basket ahead of Hardin Northern’s Maddie Grappy (25), Franki Bejarano (14) and Quinn Stewart-Evans (12) during Tuesday’s nonconference girls basketball game. (Photo by Jamie Baker)
By TED RADICK
staff writer
RAWSON — As her young team continues to develop, Cory-Rawson coach Lauren Cuellar emphasizes a simple strategy of starting each half strongly.
“I tell them, you have to set the tone for a half when you first come out,” Cuellar said. “You cannot come out weak. It’s always 0-0 when a quarter or a half starts.
“They did that. They came out hard, and they went after everything.”
Cory-Rawson jumped to a 7-0 lead in the first three minutes of Tuesday’s nonconference home game against Hardin Northern, and used a 16-3 edge in the third quarter to defeat the Polar Bears 41-18.
The Hornets improved to 3-11, while Hardin Northern dropped to 1-12.
Cory-Rawson sophomore Ayanna Vekaryasz was key to the Hornets’ quick starts in the first and third quarters.
Vekaryasz, who scored a game- and career-high 16 points, did it from the floor in the early going. She hit her first four shots as the Hornets stretched their early lead to 13-0. Whether it was a layup off a steal, a mid-range jumper or a drive to the basket, Vekaryasz didn’t miss.
“I kind of feel more focused after I hit the first few, and it makes me want to shoot more and make more,” she said.
Solid work on the offensive glass put Vekaryasz in position for several putback baskets in the third quarter. Cory-Rawson’s offense stalled to the tune of just two points in the second quarter, and Hardin Northern was hanging around down just 11 points at halftime.
“You have to be strong with the ball,” said Vekaryasz, who connected on all eight of her shots from inside the 3-point line through the first three quarters.
Cory-Rawson had a 31-7 lead after three quarters and cruised home to the victory.
“I told the girls that we needed to own the boards,” Cuellar said.
The Hornets grabbed 11 offensive rebounds won the battle on the boards, 30-23.
“We needed to crash hard, because our shots stopped falling there in the second quarter,” Cuellar said. “We had to get those rebounds, and Ayanna Vekaryasz came up big for me. She did great getting those boards, getting those putbacks and getting us points. She did great today.”
Hardin Northern turned the ball over 30 times in the first three quarters and finished with 33 turnovers.
“I didn’t think it was a good effort tonight. I don’t mean that, as in, we didn’t come out and try,” Polar Bears coach Brady Mast said. “I thought we hustled and we played. We just didn’t execute very well.
“There were a couple of things we wanted to do early in our press break that we just didn’t do. There’s some execution problems in our offense. Tonight, we just kind of fell flat. We’re so offensively challenged. I told them at halftime, you give up 15 points and that’s a pretty good defensive effort. But when you only score four. …”
Hardin Northern’s best player, junior Ashton Dye, was lost for the season with a torn ACL she suffered in the team’s second game. Dye is a do-it-all type of player who figured to put up a strong bid for first-team all-Northwest Central Conference honors.
“We lost a lot of scoring there,” Mast said. “Maddie Grappy has stepped up, but Ashton would have taken that load off of her as that young freshman. She’s still getting used to the pace of the game at this level.”
Grappy, who led HN with eight points Tuesday but hit just one field goal, gets a nightly battle at both ends of the floor.
“She has to defend the other teams’ best player, and the other teams’ best defender always guards her,” Mast said. “She needs to understand that Ashton’s not there, and she doesn’t have to score all the points but she needs to step up and be more of an aggressor.”
Hardin Northern (1-12)
Herrod-Gonzalez 1-0–2, K. Cook 0-1–1, Stewart-Evans 3-0–6, Grappy 1-6–8, McCoy 0-1–1. TOTALS: 5-33 8-19 — 18.
CORY-RAWSON (3-11)
Traucht 1-0–2, Waltz 1-0–2, Green 1-0–2, Roth 2-2–8, Chisholm 2-1–7, Curth 1-0–2, Vekaryasz 8-0–16, McVetta 1-0–2. TOTALS: 16-45 5-12 — 41.
Hardin Northern 2 2 3 11 — 18
Cory-Rawson 13 2 16 10 — 41
3-Point GOALS: Hardin Northern 0-6; Cory-Rawson 4-14 (Roth & Chisolm 2).
rebounds: Hardin Northern 23 (McCoy & Stewart-Evans 4); Cory-Rawson 30 (Roth & Vekaryasz 5).
turnovers: Hardin Northern 33, Cory-Rawson 24.
junior varsity: Cory-Rawson, 38-3.
Radick, 419-427-8405,
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