Commanders take charge over Boyd
WATERTOWN — In District 8-A tournament action Wednesday night the Lady Commanders of Friendship Christian rolled over the Lady Broncos of Boyd Christian 97-34 as they advanced to the semifinals.
Boyd came out slow in the first period, and had a hard time matching up with the bigger Lady Commanders. Lauren Macpherson established a base camp under the basket, were she scored 10 points in the period.
Kati Sutton got Boyd on the board with a 3-pointer at the 6:28 mark, but Friendship shut down the Lady Broncos over the next three minutes as they built a 15-3 lead.
Turnovers plagued Boyd in the period as pressure defense by the Commanders made it almost impossible to move the ball downcourt. By the end of the period Friendship had built a 35-5 lead.
In the second period turnovers would continue to be a problem for Boyd as they turned the ball over 16 times in the first half. Amanda Prater tried to get Boyd going in the second period as she posted up for four of the Lady Broncos’ 13 points. Christa Vaughn worked the boards for Friendship in the second quarter as she led her team to a 56-18 lead by halftime.
In the third period Friendship shut down any of the Lady Broncos’ attempts to climb back into the game. Full court pressure and a very aggressive man-to-man defense held the Lady Broncos to only four points in the period. Friendship continued its offensive attack with the combination of Vaughn down low and the outside shooting of Caitlin Zimmerman and Mallory Cook. By the end of the period Friendship had built a 54-point lead.
With the century mark staring them in the face, Friendship kept firing away, inching ever so closely to 100 points. The Lady Broncos played their bench for most of the final period, putting 12 points of the board. With three minutes, left in the game Friendship had a 90-31 point lead. The Lady Commanders — in search of 100 — added seven points as time expired to take a 63-point victory.
For the Lady Broncos Sutton had 11 points, followed by Prater with nine. Amber Hodge hit for five and Tenera Jones put in four points. Courtney Hard had two points, Alex Porter, Jennifer Laxton and Tabitha King added one point each.
For Friendship Christian, Macpherson led all scorers with 20 points, followed closely by Vaughn with 17. Lauren Hay had 15 and Zimmerman added 14 points.