The MHS girls dropped a 43-24 game at Valley leader SPASH last Tuesday, but immediately made amends with Friday’s rousing 39-30 defeat of fourth-place D.C. Everest.
The girls played the first varsity game of the night in Friday’s double-header, and wowed the crowd with a strong first half. The Jays jumped out to a 9-3 first quarter margin then bumped it to 25-18 by halftime.
When Everest closed within 29-27 1:35 left in the third quarter, the Jays shut them down for more than eight minutes while building the lead back up to 39-27.
“It was a huge win for us in conference play,” MHS coach Melissa Yuska said. “We broke them down defensively, had good looks and were able to finish. Defensively we just played with a lot of intensity. We forced them to take more shots outside than they wanted and we forced some turnovers.
“When they got within two points to start the fourth quarter, we never lost our composure. We responded just how I would expect us to respond at this point of the season.
“When we played at Everest, we controlled most of the game and let it slip away at the end, like the first West game. I like to see this at the end of the season because it shows we’ve improved.”
Renee Sladek powered up in the fourth quarter, earning a pair of throws to start it, then converting a slashing drive and pull-up jumper for a 35-27 lead with 2:25 to go.
Jourdyn Mootz had used quick hands to convert a couple of steals and jump balls earlier in the quarter, then swished a pair of free throws with 1:41 remaining for a 37-27 margin. Marissa Bartz capped off the 6-for-6 run of foul shots with 1:22 left.
Everest would hit a three with 1:07 on the clock, but that closed out their fourth quarter scoring and Merrill burned up the clock with control.
Mootz had also drained back-to-back treys near the end of the first half for a 25-15 lead.
Promoting Merrill were: Sladek (19 p, 9 r, 3 as, 3 bl); Mootz (13 p, 8 r, 3 st); Bartz (5 p, 4 r); Dawn Leland (3 r); and Liz Smith (3 st).
Merrill-FG: 13-42 (31%); FT: 10-14 (71%). D.C.E.-FG: 12; FT: 2-5 (40%).
Getting the Point
Merrill was within 14-7 range at halftime of last Tuesday’s road contest, but the Panthers bit back with a huge 17-4 run in the third quarter for a 31-11 lead. The Jays worked a slim 13-12 edge in the fourth.
“Unfortunately that was a rough one for us,” Yuska said. “Point really took us out of our rhythm. In the first half a couple of their go-to players were on the bench in foul trouble, and we still couldn’t find our rhythm.”
The Jays used offerings from: Sladek (7 p, 6 r, 3 bl); Bartz (10 p); Reegan Byer (5 r); and Mootz (4 p).
Merrill-FG: 9-36 (25%); FT: 5-13 (38%). SPASH-FG: 15; FT: 11-16 (69%).
The Bluejays moved to 4-6 in the Valley and 11-9 overall. SPASH was at 10-1 and 18-1, while Everest fell to 5-5 and 10-10.