Lady Vandals cruise in season-opener

By Editor | November 19, 2014 |

VANDALIA — A huge first-half spurt propelled the Vandalia Community High School girls basketball team to a dominating 43-20 victory over Altamont on Tuesday night in the 2014-15 season-opener.
The Lady Vandals forced turnover after turnover on one end, and used a balanced offensive attack on the other in the lopsided win.
In fact, Vandalia put together a 19-0 run in the first half to pull away for good.
Vandalia Coach Michelle McNary said it was a great way to start the season.
"We'll take it," McNary said. "It hasn't happened this way against them the last couple of years, so it's nice to get a win like that."
Key to the victory was Vandalia's intense full-court pressure defense. The Lady Indians struggled with turnovers all night long.
McNary said her team's press worked well — eventually.
"I think at the beginning of the game, we didn't really know what we were doing with our press," McNary said. "We switched it up a little bit, and went back to a press we've used in the past. And the girls looked more comfortable in it. And things just went our way from there."

Makayla Tinker led the way for the Lady Vandals with eight points, while Karlie Bright and Kelsey Swain added seven points apiece. Leah Francis and Madelyn Hosick scored six points apiece, while Emma Meyer chipped in five points. Jalea Pasley and Elizabeth Miller rounded out the scoring with two points apiece.
Hosick, Meyer, Bright, Tinker and Francis started for the Lady Vandals.
"The starters all played great," McNary said. "And Kelsey Swain did a really nice job off the bench for us. She showed that she can play well with our starters. I thought everybody that came in played pretty well. It was nice to get all those girls in there."
Vandalia held a 10-6 lead late in the first quarter when the Lady Vandals scored seven-straight points, taking a 17-6 lead into the second quarter. Six different players scored for the Lady Vandals in the first period, with Swain coming off the bench and putting in five points during the frame.
Throughout the first half, Altamont turned the ball over again and again against Vandalia's pressure defense and the Lady Vandals continued to slowly pull away.
Vandalia scored the first 12 points of the second quarter to finish off a 19-0 spurt, giving the hosts a comfortable 29-6 advantage.
The Lady Indians struggled to take care of the basketball the entire first half, finishing the first two periods with 19 turnovers and 11 points.
Tinker and Francis scored two hoops apiece in the second period, and the hosts held a 31-11 lead at intermission.
A 10-2 run in the third period made it 41-13 in favor of the Lady Vandals entering the final frame.
McNary got lots of players into the game in the fourth quarter, as the outcome was clear.

JV wins
Vandalia won the JV girls game, 36-32.
The Lady Vandals had a 10-point lead with four minutes left in the game, but Altamont made things interesting at the end.
Vandalia came up with a few defensive stops late in the game to secure the win.
Lindsey Dagen scored nine points and Molly Kern added seven for the Lady Vandals.

Vandalia 43, Altamont 20
AL 6 5 2 7 — 20
VA 17 14 10 2 — 43
Vandalia: Karlie Bright 3 1-1 7, Jalea Pasley 1 0-0 2, Leah Francis 3 0-2 6, Kelsey Swain 2 3-6 7, Elizabeth Miller 1 0-0 2, Emma Meyer 2 1-2 5, Madelyn Hosick 2 2-4 6, Makayla Tinker 4 0-0 8, Anna Miller 0 0-0 0, Madison Klanke 0 0-0 0, Olivia Marquardt 0 0-0 0, Haley Cannon 0 0-0 0, Ashley Swain 0 0-0 0. Totals 18 (0) 7-15 43. Three-pointers: None. Fouls 15. Fouled out: None.
Altamont: Danielle Vaughn 2 0-2 5, Keidron Duckwitz 1 0-0 2, Margeaux Stuckemeyer 0 0-1 0, Emily Armstrong 1 0-0 2, Elizabeth Biggs 2 0-0 4, Brooke Burns 2 1-3 5, Kayla Miller 1 0-2 2. Totals 7 (1) 1-8 20. Three-pointer: Vaughn. Fouls 16. Fouled out: None.
JV: Vandalia 36-32.
Vandalia: Miller 4, Austin 2, Klanke 5, Dagen 9, Marquardt 5, Pasley 4, Kern 7.