Email: "Defense keys win over West Branch"
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TAMA NEWS-HERALD - Behind a strong defensive effort, South Tama came out on top of the West Branch Bears Saturday night, 46-34.

Starting for the Trojans were Kendra Bradley, Kourtne Smith, Tasha Green, Maddie Baier, and Katie Plantz. The Bears started Chelsey Robertson, Jordan Arp, Bethany Harms, Kelby Trimble, and Kirby Eagle.

STC Scores First

South Tama senior Katie Plantz set the tempo early, getting the Trojans first score with just 12 seconds gone to go up, 2-0. Getting into the first quarter scoring with Plantz were Smith, Baier and Bradley.

The Bears pressed the entire game and the Trojans were hampered by it. After several lead changes, Smith hit a jumper to give the Trojans a 10-9 lead with 3:20 to go in the quarter. West Branch answered, but Katie Plantz hit two more of her 16 points for the night to give STC the lead again, 12-11, with 28 seconds left. With 16 seconds to go, Arp put one in for the Bears and STC trailed at the end of the quarter, 12-13.

South Tama turned up the heat on West Branch and just 21 seconds into the quarter, the Bears asked for a time out. Green then scored and was fouled and completed the traditional three-point play to put the Trojans back out front, 15-13. Trimble drained a three-point basket soon after, and West Branch again took the lead by one.

The game turned into a defensive struggle until the near the midway point at 4:28 when the Bears increased their lead to 15-18. Rohach followed with two of her points and Ashley Dvorak took a blocking call and sank both ends of her 1 and 1 to put the Trojans back up, 19-18.

Rohach and Smith tacked on a free throw each to give South Tama a three point lead at 21-18. West Branch closed the gap with a bucket at the 1:20 mark. Trimble then went to the line for two, making both with just over a minute to go in the half. She went back to the line with 45 seconds to go and made one more, giving the Bears a 21-23 halftime lead.

South Tama had 14 turnovers in the first half and that was a concern of Coach Roberts. “Their press gave us some fits in the first half. We talked to the girls about it at halftime and talked to them about being patient,” commented Roberts.

Trojans Take Over

The South Tama coaches must have made an impression as Trojans took control of the game late in the third quarter and put the Bears away.

West Branch opened the third with a basket to give them their biggest lead of the night, 21-25. However, Smith’s 3-point shot and a freethrow from Plantz knotted the game back up at 25-all. A freethrow by Arp with 4:28 to go in the third gave the Bears their final lead of the game, 25-26, as the Trojans settled in and began putting the game away.

After Plantz’s shot at the 2:55 mark put the Trojans back up, 27-26, West Branch called a time out. After the break, South Tama continually found the open girl underneath as Plantz and Green collected a couple of uncontested buckets, and then Plantz scored again after a nice pass from Dvorak. South Tama led after three, 33-26.

Green started off the fourth quarter with a nice steal and four seconds later, Lexa Rohach was on the line shooting two, with 6:55 to go. On the next two West Branch possessions, Rohach got a steal both times to frustrate the Bears. Baier was fouled on an inbound pass for a 1 and 1. At 5:03, she drained them both for a 10-point lead.

With 3:56 to go, Trimble hit a 3-pointer to cut the lead to 7, but Plantz immediately answered with a bucket and a foul shot for a three-point play of her own. Baier stretched the lead to 12 with a basket followed by another Trimble 3-pointer for the Bears.

Ahead, 41-32, Roberts called a time out with 2:18 to go in the contest. Three freethrows by Smith and a West Branch score made it 44-34. Baier was fouled in the backcourt and stepped up to the line for two. She made the first, staking the lead to 45-34, but missed the second. After a scramble for the rebound, a West Branch player attempted to throw a lead pass downcourt to her teammate, but it was cut off by Smith for one of her three steals on the night.

Kendra Bradley’s freethrow with 58 seconds to go made it 46-34. South Tama got the ball back with just over 20 seconds to go and ran the clock out for the win.

Roberts was pleased with the play of his girls in the second half. “We had 14 turnovers in the fist half, but only three in the second. We did a much better job of boxing out, too.” Looking ahead he commented, “We have a special game coming up next,” as the Trojans go into conference play against Pella Christian

Plantz led all scorers with 16 points on the evening. She was followed by Smith with 9, Baier 7, Green 5, Rohach 4, Bradley 3, and Dvorak with 2. Plantz also led the team with 8 rebounds. Baier hauled in 6 boards, followed by Green, Rohach and Bradley with 3 each, and Smith with one. Baier led the Trojans with 5 blocked shots and four assists.

As a team, South Tama shot 55% (17 of 31) from the line, and West Branch shot 31% (4 of 13). South Tama had 16 fouls for the night, West Branch 25.

The Trojans stay unbeaten on the season at 2-0. They hosted Pella Christian Tuesday, Dec. 1.

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