Bulldogs get back their bite

Poland rallies from double-digit deficit to turn back South Range

By CHUCK HOUSTEAU

Vindicator correspondent

POLAND — First-year Poland High coach Nick Blanch is bringing a new attitude to the Bulldogs girls basketball program.

“Win or lose, we want to get better every game,” said Blanch, who was an assistant to long-time Poland coach Jamie Dunn several years ago. “That’s what we stress to the team every day at practice.”

Blanch watched as the Bulldogs overcame an 11-point first-half deficit, 32 turnovers and a tenacious defensive effort by South Range to turn back the Raiders 52-45 Saturday afternoon at Poland.

The Bulldogs (3-0) are off to their best start in over five seasons.

Senior post players Laura Tadla scored 14 points and grabbed 10 rebounds, while Leanna Yeager added 10 points and 11 rebounds to lead Poland.

Sophomore point guard Abby Brenoel added nine points and six rebounds, and was the playmaker on both ends of the court for the Bulldogs.

Poland trailed South Range 20-9 early in the second quarter and 21-14 at halftime before outscoring the Raiders 38-24 in the second half.

“We made some adjustments at halftime,” Blanch said. “We saw some openings in their press and the girls listened and started executing better in the second half.”

South Range (2-1) employs a full court press the entire game and rotates eight players continuously throughout the contest.

That style confused and rattled Poland early in the game and allowed South Range to open up its early leads.

“Our goal is to pressure the ball,” said South Range coach Wayne Johnson. “That enables us to cause turnovers and get into our offense.

“Unfortunately we didn’t shoot the ball very well or take care of it ourselves in the second half.”

In the first half, South Range was in control with its smothering press that forced Poland into 19 turnovers.

Poland struggled getting into its offense while South Range did just enough scoring to maintain a lead over the Bulldogs.

Once Poland got a little more comfortable handling’s South Range’s press the Bulldogs were able to work the ball inside to Tadla and Yeager and exploit its huge height advantage over the Raiders.

Poland grabbed its first lead, 35-34 on a basket by Yeager at 7:45 of the fourth quarter.

“Getting the lead put the pressure on South Range,” Blanch said. “We worked our butts off to get back in the game and that turned the pressure on them at that point.”

Poland went on a 7-2 run to open a 42-36 lead and then allowed South Range to make one last challenge.

“We got it down to 44-43 and had some opportunities,” Johnson said. “But we didn’t take care of the basketball and knock down any shots.”

Poland closed out the contest outscoring the Raiders 8-2.

South Range hit only 22 percent (14-of-58) of its shots while the Bulldogs dropped in 17 of 46 attempts (37 percent).

The Raiders were led in scoring by Tabitha Stanton with 14 points.