Defense spurs Springfield past Poland

By Greg Gulas

POLAND — The key to Springfield’s success this season might just lie in the fact that the Tigers are a very adaptable team.

Switching from a man-to-man defense Monday in the first half to predominantly a zone in the final half of play, the Tigers roared past the Poland Bulldogs, 54-39 at the Poland gymnasium.

Brooke Schrieber’s 11 points and nine rebounds and 11 points by Andria Lyons, all in the second half, helped propel the Tigers (5-1) to their fourth straight win while the Bulldogs, 5-2, fell for the second time in three outings.

“We played strictly man-to-man defensively in the entire first half and at halftime, because of Poland’s decided height advantage, talked about switching to a zone defense,” said Springfield coach Sandi Kohler.

“That really worked for us. We knew that Poland was an excellent team, but wanted to front them in the second half with much needed back side help,” she added.

“We have four seniors; three with perfect 4.0 grade point averages and the other with a 3.8 GPA and all think that they are smarter than me. And they are,” laughed Kohler.

“All are very special, playing for each other and you witnessed that team effort tonight,” she said.

Poland’s Leanna Yeager scored eight of her game-high 14 points in the opening quarter, helping the Bulldogs to the early 11-5 lead, but three buckets by Schrieber over a 1:11 span at the end of the period staked the Tigers to a 13-11 advantage at the end of the first eight minutes.

It was the last time the Bulldogs would hold a lead in the game.

“Everyone came together tonight and that was a key for us,” said Schrieber. “My teammates found me at the right time and we were able to move the ball on offense. Defensively, we boxed out as much as we could in the second half. That really worked.”

An Ashley Davis 3-pointer at 1:42 of the second period staked the Tigers to a 29-22 lead before they settled for a 31-24 margin at intermission.

“Give Coach Kohler credit because she made us shoot the ball from the outside,” said Poland’s first-year coach Nick Blanch.

“They sat back on our big players and we just weren’t prepared.

“We weren’t as patient as I had hoped we would be, needing to work our zone offense better than we did tonight. One pass and then a shot is too, too quick,” he added.

“The backbone of our team is Lauren [Tadla] and Leanna [Yeager]. Both are positive leaders who work real hard and have a post presence. Springfield Local just did an excellent job tonight with their zone defense in the second half,” Blanch said.

The Tigers outscored the Bulldogs 11-9 right after intermission to forge a 42-33 lead after three quarters of play, scoring the final eight points of the period after a Kelsey Malenic 3-point goal had cut the Springfield margin to 34-33.

It would be 8:40 before the Bulldogs would score again as the Tigers opened a 46-33 margin. Lyons scored all 11 of her points in the final 16 minutes of play as they coasted to the 15-point victory.

“This is a great feeling for us tonight,” said Lyons. “The key was going to a zone defense in the second half after running a man-to-man defense the entire first half.

“We packed it inside and always had someone back to help. It’s just a great feeling to get the win,” Lyons said.