Hosick earns all-tournament nod

LITCHFIELD – Defensive rebounding is still an issue for the Lady Vandals.

After surrendering 18 to Litchfield last Friday, Vandalia was unable to improve on that number one night later during a 55-41 loss to Carlinville in the final game of the Litchfield McDonald’s/Niehaus Cycle Thanksgiving Round Robin.

Junior Talesha Scott accounted for half of those 18 offensive boards on her way to a double-double, with 22 points and 16 rebounds, and 6-foot-1 senior Megan Stayton also recorded a double-double, with 12 points and 10 boards.

“I really feel like right now the rebounding is what is hurting us,” said Vandalia coach Michelle McNary. “It’s not really the turnovers – which hurt – but the rebounding is the biggest difference in the game for us.

“We are trying to push the ball, so I know we will have some turnovers (28 against Carlinville), but we just cannot give up 18 offensive rebounds,” she said. “You can’t beat a good team doing that.”

The Lady Vandals (1-4) allowed a season-worst 27 offensive rebounds to Altamont in the season-opener, but gave up a combined 18 in the next two games before surrendering 36 in the final two games at Litchfield.

Scott, who stands at 5-10, put back her own shot four times, and was fouled doing so on three other occasions, giving her 12 second-chance points.

“We didn’t move our feet very well on her,” McNary said. “She has a quick first step, and if she gets around you, she’ll score.

“When she did miss, we didn’t get her boxed out, she grabbed her own rebound and put it back in.”

Sophomore point guard Madelyn Hosick earned all-tournament honors following Saturday’s game.

Her scoring and rebounding stats weren’t eye-popping, with 8.75 points and 5.0 rebounds per game, but her 13 assists and 11 steals showed her true value during the event.

“She did a great job through this tournament of handling the ball for us and getting our offense going,” McNary said.

Senior Morgan Cripe and freshman Emma Meyer paced the Lady Vandals with eight points each against Carlinville, and Meyer added a team-high six rebounds, while Cripe picked up four steals.

Vandalia held the early lead, going ahead, 16-5, just 5:11 into the game, but over the final 1:37 of the first period, the Lady Cavaliers cut that deficit to just three.

Carlinville took the lead for good with 3:07 left in the first half, and outscored Vandalia, 28-16, in the second half.

“They came out in a totally different defense than we were thinking,” McNary said. “We were preparing for a 1-3-1 … but they switched to man-to-man, then played a 2-3.

“We had some shots fall early, but from late in the second quarter on, the shots quit falling.”

Vandalia shot just 28 percent (15-53) for the game, but more than half of those makes came in the first quarter, as Vandalia scored just five more points in the final three quarters than it did in the first period.

The Lady Vandals now turn their attention to South Central Conference play, with three straight conference games in the next week.

On Thursday, Vandalia will travel to Gillespie, on Saturday, Vandalia will host Southwestern, and next Thursday, Vandalia will travel to Hillsboro.

The Lady Vandals went 0-3 in those same games last season, and finished with just a 3-6 record in SCC games.

And McNary said that after the tournament, she feels like her team is close to finding its winning formula.

“We are doing some things right,” she said. “Our defense worked hard and we played aggressive, so I feel like we are right there.

“We just need to figure out how to get past that point.”

Saturday, Nov. 30
Carlinville 55
Vandalia 41
C: 15-15-11-14—55
V: 18-8-5-10—41
Points: Cripe, 8; Meyer, 8; Makayla Tinker, 7; Hosick, 6; Karlie Bright, 5; Kylie Sellers, 5; Kaitlyn Kershaw, 2.
Rebounds: Meyer, 6; Bright, 5; Hosick, 4; Kershaw, 4; Team, 4; Cripe, 3; Tinker, 3; Randi Evans, 2; Sellers, 1.
Assists: Bright, 2; Cripe, 2; Hosick, 2.
Steals: Cripe, 4; Hosick, 2; Meyer, 2; Sellers, 1.
Block: Bright, 1.
Record: 1-4

***

Vandalia fell to 1-3 with a 58-40 loss to the hosts of the Litchfield McDonald’s/Niehaus Cycle Thanksgiving Round Robin.

Freshman Emma Meyer set her career-high for scoring with a team-high 11 points off of the bench, and sophomore Karlie Bright had her best game of the season with eight points and seven rebounds.

But poor shooting as a team, 24 percent (13-53), hurt the Lady Vandals, as Litchfield – the AP’s No. 7 Class 2A team in the state – scored consistently for four quarters.

Abby Brockmeyer scored 22 points to lead the game, while also grabbing 13 rebounds. Eight of those came on the offensive end.

Vandalia falls to 1-3 with the loss.

Friday, Nov. 29
Litchfield 58
Vandalia 40
V: 12-12-6-10—40
L: 18-12-16-12—58
Points: Meyer, 11; Bright, 8; Makayla Tinker, 8; Madelyn Hosick, 7; Morgan Cripe, 3; Randi Evans, 3.
Rebounds: Bright, 7; Cripe, 3; Kaitlyn Kershaw, 3; Hosick, 2; Meyer, 2; Tinker, 2; Evans, 1; Brandy Protz, 1.
Assists: Hosick, 3; Bright, 1; Cripe, 1; Kylie Sellers, 1; Tinker, 1.
Steals: Hosick, 6; Meyer, 2; Sellers, 1; Tinker, 1.
Blocks: Hosick, 2.
Record: 1-3