[private]It was the early Christmas present Ashley’s girls basketball team needed. After a pair of losses last week, the Bears led early, then rallied in the fourth Monday to beat Akron-Fairgrove, 26-21.
Ellie Drummond is just an eighth-grader playing varsity, but she did it all for Ashley in the win with 14 points, 20 rebounds, seven steals and three assists.
“We were able to get off to a fast start, building a 9-0 lead in the first quarter,” Ashley coach Joe Shaw said. “We struggled to score throughout the second and third quarters, when we missed too many layups and free throws.”
Six of Akron-Fairgrove’s seven field goals were three-pointers, and the Bears were able to extend their defense and slow that down in the fourth quarter, when a defensive flurry flipped turnovers into buckets for Ashley’s closing run. They outscored the Vikings 11-1 in the fourth.
Ashley is now 2-4.
“Defense made the difference in the second half,” Shaw said. “We only gave up two field goals and seven points for the entire half.”
Alexyss McAllister had six points and seen rebounds for Ashley. Also for the Bears, Savanna Denman had eight rebounds and Savannah Beebe seven boards.
Vestaburg beat Ashley last week, 56-15. Drummond has seven points, nine rebounds and two steals.
“It was a struggle with turnovers again in the first quarter, and we got off to a slow start offensively,” Shaw said. “We were able to start moving the ball better after that and get some good looks at the basket. Defensively we have to continue to work at putting more pressure on the ball and holding teams to one shot.”
Huskies split
Breckenridge held a short-handed Ashley squad, playing with just six, to two second-half points last Thursday, in a 56-9 Huskies win.
Breckenridge put the game away early, leading 29-3 after the first quarter.
“Breckenridge did a nice job of forcing some early turnovers, and that led to easy points for them,” Ashley coach Joe Shaw said.
Megan Goward had 23 ponits, seven rebounds and five steals for Breckenridge; Tori Most and Kayla Goward eight points apiece; Caleigh Dutton five points, five rebounds, nine steals and six assists; and EmaLee Noack contributed five points, 20 rebounds and seven steals.
Savana Denman had five points and seven rebounds for Ashley.
Breckenridge, 2-4, couldn’t recover an 18-5 first-quarter deficit earlier last week to St. Charls, and lost 53-42.
Megan Goward had 14 ponts, six rebounds and four assists for the Huskies. Kayla Goward had six points and 11 rebounds, and Tori Most scored seven. /[private]