HIGH SCHOOL GIRLS BASKETBALL Second half propels Girard past JFK

An attacking style of play turned a one-point halftime lead into a 14-point Girard victory.
& lt;a href=mailto:bassetti@vindy.com & gt;By JOHN BASSETTI & lt;/a & gt;
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
GIRARD -- It was a different second half when Girard High reversed the ball, penetrated and attacked the offensive boards.
Such play turned a slim 20-19 halftime lead into a 44-30 victory over Warren John F. Kennedy in a non-league girls basketball game Monday night.
"Those were things we should do against a zone that we didn't do the first half," coach Andy Saxon said of factors that helped the Indians (9-1) outscore JFK 24-11 over the final 16 minutes.
The win was Girard's fifth straight since losing to Hubbard. It was the second loss in a row for JFK (7-3), which was beaten by Farrell on Saturday.
Sophomore Cachet Murray had a game-high 19 points, Tealle Hunkus grabbed 14 of Girard's 36 rebounds, and guard Jen Maravola had seven steals and eight assists.
Close early
Although the Indians played well enough to nurse its lead after Hunkus' bucket made it 10-8 with 1:34 remaining in the first quarter, JFK stayed within striking distance and took a 24-20 lead on Aarika Knepp's free throw early in the third quarter.
Murray made her team's next five points to put Girard ahead, 25-24, but Krystal Naples hit a 3-point goal at 3:46 to give the Eagles a 27-25 edge.
Then Maravola received a pass from Bree Longberry and made a basket in the paint to knot the score at 27.
Following Lora Doran's steal, a goal by Hunkus put Girard ahead for good, 30-27.
"She's an outstanding athlete and, when things get tough, she kind of takes over," Saxon said of Murray.
"We were a little flat the first two quarters and the first few minutes of the second half," he added. "We weren't going after offensive rebounds and we weren't penetrating gaps methodically. After a timeout and some positive reinforcement, we starting rebounding better and I thought we did a nice job hitting the offensive boards."
Uptempo game
Saxon, who notched his 201st victory at Girard, said that his team prefers an uptempo style.
"We press and trap a lot," he said. "I have a very, very quick team, so basically, we like to go baseline to baseline. We'll play man-to-man all over the place and utilize our speed to get down the floor and score. We pressed a little better the second half and got turnovers on traps which kept them out of a zone."
JFK's inability to keep its four-point lead was more mental than physical, coach Denise Smith said.
"We're inexperienced with our sophomore guards. When we had the lead in the third quarter, we broke the press OK, but didn't know to slow down the ball and take some time off the clock. Instead we're trying to go for the jugular, trying to go and make something happen.
"Our sophomores tried to rush things a little bit. There was a key moment when we could have tried to take the air out and pass it around a bit and take time off the clock. Things might have been a little bit different."
Not on the boards
Smith also said that JFK's second-half rebounding wasn't good.
"We let them dominate the boards on us," she said. "Rebounding and not protecting the lead when we had it were crucial factors."
JFK, which starts two seniors, a junior and two sophomores, was led by Knepp's 11 points and Naples with nine.
Neither team shot well. Girard made 9-of-22 shots in the first half and was 9-of-23 in the second half for 18-of-45. JFK's breakdown was 6-of-22 and 4-of-17 (10-of-39).
& lt;a href=mailto:bassetti@vindy.com & gt;bassetti@vindy.com & lt;/a & gt;