FULTON, Ill. —
It was a low-scoring affair Monday night at Stan Borgman Court between the Fulton Steamers and Kewanee Boilermakers. Kewanee ultimately pulled away for the 32-24 win, but both teams played some tough defense.
The Steamers fell behind 6-0 in the first quarter, and with only two minutes left, senior Morgan Wierema put the Steamers on the board with two free throws. After that they went on a run offensively, closing the gap to 10-8 before time ran out.
The second quarter turned into a defensive battle, with each team scoring two points in the eight minutes before halftime. The inbound defense from the Steamers was especially tough, causing a lot of tips, turnovers and bad passes by Kewanee. But turnovers and a lack of offensive rebounds by the Steamers kept them from taking the lead before halftime.
“Defensively we played really well; you can go down the line, every girl played well defensively. None of them really got a break,” Fulton coach Jesse Abbott said of the defense and the starters logging a lot of time on the floor. “They were in the right position a lot of times they tipped a lot of passes, which is something we work on.”
The Steamers’ offense sputtered all night long, struggling to find the basket, with the exception of Wierema, who scored 16 to lead all scorers. Wierema made her presence known under the basket, but the rest of the Steamers were not shooting well enough to draw the defense out to the perimeter to open up the post game more for her.
“They had shots out there, they just weren’t falling,” Wierema said.
Abbott said: “We just weren’t patient enough offensively tonight. It’s not a typical thing when our jump shots aren’t falling and we’ve got to find ways to score. What it boils down to is patience offensively. I think we were a little quick, (and) we didn’t really offensively rebound very well.”
The Steamers defense is what kept them in the game and helped them to the lead for most of the third quarter
“We wanted to come out stronger than what we had in the first half,” Wierema said. “We were trying to limit them and trying and stop them as much as we could. It was either stop them or fall behind.”
The Steamers got a lot of stops on defense, but it wasn’t enough, and the offense just wasn’t picking them up when they needed it, especially in the fourth quarter when Kewanee began to pull away with the game.
The Steamers will look to find more balance on the court starting this weekend when they head to the Warkins Holiday Tournament at Erie High School.
KEWANEE 32, FULTON 24
KEWANEE — Jennifer Ensley 3 1-1 7, Raeshonda Chandler 3 1-2 7, Cecilia Martinez 2 2-2 7, Amber Jordan 2 2-2 7, Makayla Jordan 2 0-0 4. Totals 12 6-8 32.
FULTON (5-9, 1-4) — Rachel Beiermann 1 0-0 2, Katherine Wayne 1 0-0 2, Morgan Sanquist 0 2-2 2, Kelsey Leffler 1 0-0 2, Morgan Wierema 7 2-3 16. Totals 10 4-5 24.
Kewanee 10 2 10 10 — 22
Fulton 8 2 10 4 — 24
3-point goals — Kewanee 2 (Martinez, A. Jordan). Total Fouls — Fulton 10, Kewanee 6. Fouled out — None.
High School Sports
December 18, 2012
Steamers’ offense disappears
Kewanee girls win defensive struggle 32-24
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