Spoofhound girls win second straight
HENRY JANSSEN/DAILY FORUM
Maryville’s Bethel Orshiso interrupts Cameron’s offensive set when she pokes the ball loose from Hannah Robinson. Maryville won 50-43 and improved to 6-12.
The Maryville girls basketball team used an impressive second half to its advantage Friday night to come out victorious 50-43 against the host Dragons in the consolation finals of the Cameron Invitational Tournament. The Spoofhounds finish the tournament 2-1 after dropping their first game to Lawson.
The Spoofhounds advance to 6-12, and Cameron falls to 5-12.
In the first quarter, Maryville turnovers kept it from getting into offensive sets on consecutive possessions twice, but an energetic defense helped hold the deficit to 10-8 entering the second period. The Spoofhounds returned to the locker room trailing 21-17.
“We did a good job executing our offense in the first half, we had some people knocking down shots early,” Cameron coach Matt Wenck said. “Twenty-one points for us is pretty good going into halftime, but giving up 17 is probably a little too much for us.”
To start the second half, however, the Spoofhounds dealt damage to the Dragon defense. Maryville scored the first 13 points of the third quarter, and hindered Cameron from scoring until just before the two-minute mark in the period, bringing the game back to 30-23. Maryville extended its lead back to 37-26 by the end of the third quarter, highlighted by back-to-back possessions when Emma Baldwin rattled a 3-pointer home and Abbie Greeley got a transition put-back to drop.
“We wanted to take (Abbie) Greeley away, and we did a great job of that in the first half,” Wenck said.
Coming down the stretch, Cameron scratched its way back into the game on the back of the 3-pointer. Emily Spencer and Sydney Nichols hit from outside on consecutive possessions to trim the Maryville lead to 41-34, and when the game looked out of reach for the Dragons with two minutes remaining, Nichols nailed another deep one to bring the score to 48-41.
Maryville coach Quentin Albrecht said after Wednesday’s victory versus Excelsior Springs that he thought Nichols would be the Dragons’ biggest threat.
The Cameron press proved to be too little, and the Spoofhounds left the gym with a victory over a team they will see again on Feb. 13 in Midland Empire Conference play.
Felicia Sheil was stellar for the Spoofhounds on Friday with a career-high 23 points. Greeley and Baldwin both finished with 11. Amberlea Auffert posted three points and Molly Renshaw had two to round out Maryville’s scoring.
Albrecht’s team limited Nichols to 13 points, and her only second-half field goals were the 3-pointers down the stretch. Olivia Nelson was also in double-figures with 11.
“We had six or seven turnovers in the first quarter. We had four of them in our first six possessions. We tuned that up a little bit, but at halftime, we challenged the girls to be patient,” Albrecht said.
“We thought we could dribble-penetrate to the basket, and we did. We got to the foul line a lot, and that was the key part of it. Of our last six games, we’ve won four, and we’ve only played one bad quarter. We’re starting to put together full 32-minute games, which is what we really need to be successful.”
Maryville will host Lathrop on Monday night. The opening tip is slated for 6:45 p.m.
SCORING – MARYVILLE (6-12): F. Sheil 23, Greeley 11, Baldwin 11, Auffert 3, Renshaw 2.
CAMERON (5-12): Nichols 13, Nelson 11, Harper 6, Spencer 4, Smith 4, Robinson 3, Lee 2.
TWO-POINT FGS – MARYVILLE 14.
CAMERON 12.
3-POINT FGS – MARYVILLE 1: Baldwin.
CAMERON 3: Nichols 2, Spencer.
FREE-THROWS – MARYVILLE: 19-26, 73%.
CAMERON: 10-22, 45%.
HENRY JANSSEN/DAILY FORUM
Spoofhound Felicia Sheil gets pressured by Cameron’s Makayla Lee, forcing her to complete a pass into the corner. Sheil finished with a game-high 23 points.
HENRY JANSSEN/DAILY FORUM
Maryville’s Emma Baldwin crosses up Cameron’s Lexi Smith in Friday night’s 50-43 victory. Maryville won the consolation side of the Cameron Invitational Tournament.
