NBL girls basketball: Panthers defeat Wildcats
Thu. January 26, 2012 at 10:36 p.m. | By PDPreps.com staff
Kendra Newton, left, scored 13 points Thursday night, all in the first half. (Photo by CRISTA JEREMIASON / The Press Democrat)
By RICHARD J. MARCUS
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
Call it the start of some good old-fashioned home cooking for the Santa Rosa girls’ basketball team.
Thursday night’s 69-49 drubbing of Ukiah was the first of five consecutive NBL home games for Santa Rosa. The win by the Panthers (14-7 overall, 8-1 in the NBL) keeps them at least in second place in the league and continues to put the pressure on league leader Maria Carrillo. The next four games at Santa Rosa will be critical for the Panthers.
The Wildcats (9-12, 4-5), on the other hand, are mired in the middle of the league standings and were offensively handicapped against the Panthers due to the absence of starting point guard Kaleigh Lincoln, who injured her left knee against Cardinal Newman on Tuesday. Lincoln averages 10 points per game and was the only legitimate 3-point scorer on the Wildcats. The extent of Lincoln’s injury is not yet known, nor is the amount of time she will be out of the Ukiah lineup.
“We didn’t hit one 3-point shot today (0-10),” Ukiah coach David Downey said. “Lincoln made four on her own the last time we played Santa Rosa (a 63-46 Panther win at Ukiah).”
Ukiah never found a scoring rhythm without a point guard to drive the lane or an outside shooter to stretch the Panthers’ defense.
“Ukiah didn’t have an outside threat and a player like Lincoln who could penetrate,” Santa Rosa coach Steve Chisholm said. “Any time a player of her caliber gets hurt, that is going to affect a team.”
The Panthers jumped out to a 22-9 lead six minutes into the game and never looked back. Five minutes later, the Panthers were up 32-13 and the game was effectively over with Ukiah having no outside threat and the Panthers’ defense clamping down in the lane.
“We are still a work in progress on defense,” Chisholm said. “But we got the defensive stops when we needed them.”
Santa Rosa was led by Anitra Romelli, who had 15 points and 11 rebounds. Hannah Sourek added 10 points and 11 rebounds and Kendra Newton chipped in 13 points, all in the first half.
“Santa Rosa is a good team,” Downey said. “They pound it inside and run it up the court.”
Said Chisholm: “We did an excellent job getting the ball to our post players (Romelli and Sourek).”
Ukiah was led by center Kylee Wright with 17 points. Allie Milone pulled down 12 rebounds for the Wildcats.
The Panthers held a 41-27 edge in rebounds and a 34-27 percent shooting advantage from the floor. While Ukiah didn’t convert a single 3-point shot, Santa Rosa was 4 of 11. Ukiah had 13 turnovers to Santa Rosa’s 10.
Next up at home for the Panthers is Elsie Allen on Monday, Cardinal Newman on Wednesday, Maria Carrillo next Friday and Montgomery the following Tuesday.
“The league this year is a little bit more balanced,” Chisholm said. “None of (the NBL games) are really easy.”