News Progress

Photo by Keith Stewart
Sullivan’s Brittin Boyer (right) blocks ALAH’s Madison Brown Monday night. Boyer was not only a force defensively for the Lady Redskins, but also offensively as she went off for 27 points, 6 rebounds, and 5 assists.

December 10, 2014

Foul trouble, brief injury keep Sullivan scoring at bay in first half

By Matt Kracht
NP Sport Reporter

The cross town rivalry game between Sullivan and Arthur-Lovington/Atwood-Hammond lived up to the billing with an entertaining first half before the Lady Redskins pulled away for the 24-point victory. The Lady Redskins improved to 6-0 on the season maintaining their number 14 ranking in class 2A while the Lady Knights fell to 5-5.
On the first play of the matchup Brittin Boyer took the ball at the top of the key, surveyed the defense, then went right to the baseline and laid it in for the early lead. It was a theme that would be repeated as Boyer finished the night leading all scorers with 27 points. However, in the first half the Knights successfully frustrated Boyer by sending her to the foul line rather than giving up the easy two points. The “hack a Shaq” strategy worked well for Arthur initially as Boyer struggled from the line. ALAH head coach Craig Moffet talked about the gamesmanship after the loss.
“I think it was just our girls being aggressive. I’d sooner her shoot free throws than get a layup. We have a lot of smart girls. We have some future coaches on the team.”
The Lady Redskins led 17-12 after the opening quarter, but the Knights would get within three points of the lead in the second after starter Emily Neuhauser went down with an apparent back injury. Doing what team leaders do Boyer responded putting the team on her back and extending the lead to 27-20 by halftime.   Read More

December 10, 2014

Plank’s 13 helps solidify win

By Matthew Kracht
NP Sport Reporter

The Arthur-Lovington/Atwood-Hammond Knights improved to 4-0 on Tuesday night with an impressive win over the Tuscola Warriors who fell to 0-1 on the season. Leading the way for the Knights was Tyler Schuring who scored a game high 17 including three deep 3-pointers in the first quarter.
Tuscola came out ready to play and surging to an early 8-4 lead behind hot shooting guards nailing back-to-back 3-pointers. But Schuring responded with his own deep threes including a circus shot with less than 10 seconds left in the first period putting Arthur back on top 18-14. The Knights disguised various defenses throughout the contest frustrating Tuscola’s ability to move the ball with an offense heavily reliant on motion best suited for facing man-to-man. In a back and forth contest the Knights took a 29-23 advantage into the half. Read More

Photo by RR Best
Peyton Hagerman drives between two Shelbyville defenders Friday night. The senior tallied 22 points to help lead his team to a 68-58 win.

December 6, 2014

Endure 11-0 run by Rams in fourth quarter

by Keith Stewart
keith@newsprogress.com

Friday night’s season opener at Shelbyville might not have resulted in the 68-58 victory for Okaw Valley had it taken place last year.

“Not to look back, but last year we lost 10 games that we led or tied in the fourth quarter, so it’s encouraging to start off this year with the result being the opposite,” said OV head coach Tony Sparks. “But again, that’s the difference between playing sophomores and juniors and then juniors and seniors.”

After managing to keep a double-digit lead over the Rams for all of the third quarter and halfway through the fourth, OV succumbed to an 11-0 run by Shelbyville on the back of three 3-pointers and all within a minute-and-a-half, prompting a Timberwolf timeout.

“We went to a 2-3 zone there just to give them a different look for about three possessions, and it burned us,” said Sparks. “They hit three 3’s in a row, but we responded. And that’s what I expect a senior led team to do. We called a timeout, regrouped, and talked about it. Then got back to what was working before for us– man-to-man. Then we made some plays, got the rebounds, hit some free throws, and broke their press. We got some easy layups. That’s what we expect a senior led team to do.” Read More

Photo by Darian Hays
ALAH's Colton Yeakley tries to box out a Stew-Stras player Tuesday night.

December 3, 2014

By Matthew Kracht
NP Sport Reporter

The ALAH Knights won their first home game of the season Tuesday night with a dominate 30-point win over the Comets from Stew-Stras. The Knights jumped out to an early 11-2 lead pushing the margin to 32-16 by halftime.

A talented and deep Knights squad put on a man-to-man defensive exhibition for the capacity crowd endlessly harassing the Comets players and forcing 13 steals. After the win Head Coach Dale Schuring talked about the defensive intensity of which the Knights seem to feed off.

“I thought our effort was great, not sure we played defensively all that smartly. It is a fine line between pressuring and taking them out of what they want to do. At the same time avoid fouling them in a situation where there is no reason to be that aggressive. The hustle and the effort were great, but the intelligence of our defense has got to improve.”

Schuring also addressed the challenge of having so many good players on one team. Read More

December 3, 2014

After shaky 1st quarter, OV Cruises to Win

By Matt Kracht
NP Sports Reporter

The Okaw Valley Lady Timberwolves improved their record to 4-1 with a 30-point victory over Decatur LSA on Monday night.

Okaw Valley trailed 11 to 9 after the first quarter but outscored the LSA Lions 22 to 10 in the second quarter en route to an impressive victory.

“This LSA team came to play, and I told them from the beginning that they are not going to roll over for anybody,” said OV head coach Don Gardner. “LSA outplayed us in the first half, and I give all the credit to their coaching staff and their players. We talked at halftime about coming out in the second half being ready to play, otherwise we were going to lose. It was a wake up call, so it was a good win.” Read More