TRUMBULL ATHLETIC CONFERENCE Murray tops milestone as Girard drops Liberty

The junior passed 1,000 points in the 44-26 win.
VINDICATOR STAFF REPORT
LIBERTY -- Girard High girls basketball coach Andy Saxon stresses defense.
Cachet Murray knows it. Her teammates know it.
Liberty got a first-hand look at it Thursday night.
"That's been the key to our success all season," said Saxon, shortly after the Indians (14-1, 9-0 Trumbull Athletic Conference) turned up the pressure in the second half to post a 44-26 victory.
"We're an up-in-your-face, man-to-man team and the girls did a great job tonight," Saxon said.
Murray reached an offensive milestone in the third quarter, scoring her 1,000th career point on a free throw in the closing seconds. She now has 1,004 points.
"The 1,000 points [don't] mean a thing if we wouldn't have won this game," Murray said. "It's not about me. It's all about the team."
Murray, Girard's junior catalyst, scored 15 points, but it was her 16 rebounds and five steals, most of them coming in the second half, that broke open what was a close game for the better part of two quarters.
"Coach has stressed defense since day one," Murray said. "When I was in eighth grade and went to varsity summer camps, it was all defense. And that has remained with me."
Good player
Saxon had high praise.
"In my 17 years of coaching, she's the best player I've ever coached," Saxon said. "I don't think she knows what pressure is.
"She's phenomenal. She can take a game over herself. If she's hitting outside, forget it because if you try to guard her, she'll go right by you."
Liberty coach John Hritz called Murray "a tremendous athlete, one of the quickest with the ball I've ever seen."
Murray was pleased that senior guard Angela Ragazzine was on the floor when she reached her milestone.
"She worked her butt off this week to get back on the floor," Murray said of Ragazzine, who injured her ankle in the Indians' game on Monday.
Pulling away
Liberty (11-4, 6-3) kept things close for most of the first half, but it was Girard's pressure that broke things open after the intermission.
"We put a lot more pressure on their guards and that made a big difference," said Saxon, referring to a 16-0 run in the second half that turned a 23-17 halftime lead into a 21-point lead midway through the fourth quarter. "We got a few steals and took them out of their game."
Hritz agreed.
"We were a totally different team out there in the second half," Hritz said. "We didn't play with the same intensity. They out-rebounded us, out-hustled us and out-played us. It's plain and simple. They're a good team."
Lora Doran added eight points for the Indians, who have won 13 straight since a 13-point loss to Niles in early December.
Lena Esmail led Liberty with six points.