Cardinals flex super Powers in win over SH
NEW BREMEN — Defense leads to offense and that was the case on Thursday night as New Bremen took down St. Henry 54-22 in Midwest Athletic Conference action.
The opening half was the Abi Powers and Kaylee Freund show, as the duo combined for 31 points in the first half, hounding St. Henry ball handlers on one end and shooting lights out on the other.
“I give credit to the girls – we came out ready to go and played hard,” said Cardinals coach Andy Timmerman. “We really didn’t have any lapses and that’s what it took.”
A steal and a layup by Powers put the Cardinals out in front 5-2 early.
Freund got a steal and was fouled on the other end, hitting both free throws to make it 7-2.
Powers stole the ball again and made another layup to make it 9-2.
Freund scored down low with a shot off the glass and then Powers added another steal and layup on the next possession to make it 13-2.
Powers would then make a 3-pointer from the right side to make it 16-2.
St. Henry called three timeouts in the first six minutes of the quarter trying to figure out an answer, but the Cardinals defensive pressure was too much.
The Cardinals ended the first quarter up 21-6, forcing eight St. Henry turnovers.
Freund scored the first four points of the second quarter to make it 25-6.
St. Henry’s Lauren Beyke hit a long 2-pointer to make it 25-8 and Rileigh Baumer hit a pair of free throws for the Redskins to make it 25-10.
But Freund would score again on the left side and Powers added another steal and a fastbreak layup to make it 3110.
Freund stole the ball and laid it in to make it 33-10 with 2:49 left and St. Henry used another timeout.
Powers hit a 3-pointer near the end of the half to make it 37-11 at halftime.
If the first half was the Freund and Powers show, the third quarter belonged to Chloe Bornhorst, who scored nine of her 11 points in the quarter, including one threepointer.
She scored nine of the Cardinals 11 points in the quarter.
After Bornhorst’s three in the right corner, the Cardinals led 47-11 which made it a running clock.
The Redskins had their best offensive quarter in the fourth, with three different Redskins scoring.
The final ended up at 5422, with the Cardinals playing hard on both ends until the final whistle.
“It goes back to having that right mindset from the very beginning. We came ready to go, especially on the defensive end,” said Timmerman. “A lot of defense led to offense for us and I think that’s carried over from Tuesday night to how we’ve been practicing this week. This week has been a
really good week for us. We’re mentally focused and it carried through the whole time.”
Timmerman gave credit to Powers, Freund and the rest of the team for their effort on the defensive end.
“She [Powers] played really, really well. It starts with her setting the tempo defensively. She was a one-man show for several possessions there,” said Timmerman. “Her and Kaylee are able to get those steals. They’re nice and quick defensively. They can get deflections and go finish. Besides a couple of them, we finished on layups. Defense leads to layups and that’s really good for us. I told them it’s a team effort because if we’re not in our gaps … then we’re not able to get the ball out of their hands and we’re not able to do what we do. It’s a good team effort.”
The Cardinals will head into a lengthy break riding a two-game win streak. New Bremen’s next game isn’t until Dec. 29 when they will face Mechanicsburg.
“I’m proud of my girls and we had a really nice week,” said Timmerman.
“We get a nice break here and it’s much deserved and much needed for us.”
Score by quarters
New Bremen 21 16 10 7 -- 54
St. Henry 6 5 5 6
-- 22
NEW BREMEN
(54)
Lily Lennartz 0-0-12-1; Kaylee Freund 7-03-3-17; Riley Trentman 1-0-1-2-3; Abi Powers 4-2-3-4-17; Ella Pape 1-1-0-0-5; Chloe Bornhorst 4-1-0-0-11; TOTALS 17-4-8-11-54.
ST. HENRY (22) Lauren Beyke 1-0-00-2; Claire Wendel 2-00-2-4; Jaylynn Everman 3-0-0-0-6; Ashley Ontrop 0-0-0-2-0; Rileigh Baumer 0-0-3-4-3; Leah Lefeld 0-1-0-0-3; Mya Ontrop 1-0-2-2-4; TOTALS 7-1-5-10-22.