Taylor leads Rayen's rout of Cowgirls

The sophomore had a game-high 26 points to lead the Tigers.
By JOHN BASSETTI
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
YOUNGSTOWN -- It was rout night at the Rayen gym Monday as the Tigers made a good showing in front of the home court fans.
After Rayen's JV team beat Chaney, 45-5, Rayen's varsity took the floor and did likewise, 72-28, in the Steel Valley Conference games.
Sophomore Brittany Taylor had a game-high 26 points and junior teammate Kenysha Beacham added 18 for Rayen, which started slowly before eventually widening the gap to 32-8.
Tigers' defense dominates
Rayen's defense was the primary factor in the spurt.
"Defense is what got us in the game," said first-year coach Tanisha Franklin. "Once we get layups and easy buckets [from our defense], our offense got going. When we play good defense, we can push the ball out and we get early buckets."
Chaney turnovers changed the flow of the game from two-sided to one-sided, but not until Rayen (7-3, 4-0) had some trouble of its own.
"We got in foul trouble early from our full-court press, so, to save us from fouling, I pushed them back to half-court," Franklin said.
Franklin played for Rayen from 1996-2000, then served as Holly Seimetz's assistant the last four years.
Hopkins leads Chaney
Chaney's Jazmyn Hopkins, the tallest player on the court at 6-0, had 11 points, but the Cowgirls (3-6, 2-0) couldn't successfully utilize her height.
"We intended to pound the ball inside to our two big people," Chaney coach Dennis Miller said. "I thought Jazmyn did decently when we did get her the ball. Our other post, Brittainny Cobb, just came off of a stellar game against Harding, so we were hoping to get the ball inside. But Rayen's pressure out front prevented that. They got us out of what we were wanting to do, offensively."
Chaney scored its most points in the first quarter -- 8 -- then watch the Tigers repeatedly force turnovers that led to points at the other end of the floor.
Most of Rayen's 26 field goals were inside and the Tigers took advantage of the foul line where they made 19 of 30.
Chaney, meanwhile, made 10 goals and 7 of 18 foul shots.
In foul trouble
Clenisha Pless wasn't able to contribute much for the Cowgirls as the 5-7 guard/forward had sat down with three fouls late in the first quarter and sat out the second quarter.
Miller, Chaney's second-year coach, said that Pless' absence was felt.
"She was doing a good job helping our two post players inside, defensively, so losing her also took us out of our rhythm," he said.
Tieara Jones was Rayen's third player in double figures with 11 points.
Taylor has had 27-point games twice this season -- against Warren JFK and East Liverpool -- and 30 points against Wilson.
She was Rayen's second-best scorer last year as a freshman, so Franklin expected the 5-8 player to be a leader in 2005-06.