Whitney Cline finished just shy of a triple-double with 10
points, 10 rebounds and eight steals as the Lady Owls cruised to a
57-36 non-league win over Otto-Eldred on Tuesday.
Cline made it look easy right from the start, putting the ball
on the floor and powering it up for the game’s first points 36
seconds in.
Meghan Perschke found an opening under the hoop and laid it in
at the 7:01 mark.
Cline followed with another basket at the right block and struck
again on the next possession with a turnaround – this time from the
left block.
“Whitney’s got some great moves,” said Doug Lloyd, BHS coach.
“She was 4-for-4 in the first half and 4-for-5 in the game. She
could’ve had a lot more points, but she sat most of the second
half.”
At the 5:40 mark, Shelly Fuhrman gave the Lady Owls a 10-0
bulge, prompting an Otto-Eldred timeout.
The Lady Terrors responded with only four points in the final
5:38 of the quarter and Bradford was up 26-4 after the first
quarter.
Starting the second, Nikki Siffrinn canned a jumper off the
dribble for a 28-4 score. Then around the four-minute mark of the
period, she zipped a no-look pass to Fuhrman for the score in
perfect execution of a 3-on-1 break.
“Nikki didn’t shoot a lot tonight, but she does everything she
needs to do,” Lloyd declared. “She played great. She played good
defense, had a lot of assists and no turnovers. That’s great.
“She controls the tempo for us and she has stepped it up in
these first couple of games. That’s why we’re winning – because
she’s setting the pace. Her and Whitney together … that’s a great
combination.”
Tricia Copeland extended the lead once again with a bucket at
the 3:05 mark and a pair of free throws from Cline kept it at 22
points, 34-12.
Then with just 45 seconds remaining a Bradford guard got the
ball up the floor to Cline, but the ball was just out of her reach.
So the junior forward calmly corraled the pass and dumped it off to
Fuhrman on the wing for a deep ball.
With nine seconds left in the half Fuhrman drained another
three-pointer from the very same spot on the floor.
Foul shots by Otto’s Saree Frederick cut the Lady Terrors’
halftime deficit to 23, 40-17.
“I haven’t seen the stats, but I know in the first half we shot
69 percent,” Lloyd emphasized. “When our defense plays like it did
tonight we’re able to get a lot of steals and we get a lot of
layups.”
Bradford rested its starters in the second half, leading to nine
different players in the scoring column.
Liz Keller, Copeland, Carissa Higley and Britani VanScoter all
got in on the act in the third, for a 51-25 lead going into the
last.
The Lady Owls put up six more in the fourth as Kevryn Boser
tallied a six-footer, Keller buried an 18-footer and Copeland sank
two foul shots.
But the Lady Terrors kept their heads and hearts in the game and
outscored the hosts 11-6 in the quarter, highlighted by a trifecta
from Brittney Price, for a 57-36 final.
“Otto-Eldred did a nice job and kept at it the whole game,”
Lloyd commented. “They never gave up, they were tough inside and
they made us work.”
Otto-Eldred head coach John Hepfer agreed.
“We worked hard right down to the end,” Hepfer said. “We had
some positive things happen. I was happy to get back into the game
at all. I’m just disappointed because we can play better than
that.
“We’re a young team right now. We have 17 kids in the program
and nine are freshmen, so we’re building with what we’ve got.”
Fuhrman was the high scorer for the Lady Owls with 12 points,
while Siffrinn added five assists, four points and two steals.
“Shelly hit some nice shots,” Lloyd observed. “She also
pressured the ball well and that’s what she has to do.
“Everybody came in and did a nice job. That’s what’s great about
this team. Everybody can do the things they need to do and they
know their limits.”
The Lady Owls, now 2-0, are at Eisenhower on Thursday.
“It only gets harder from here,” Lloyd remarked. “(Eisenhower)
is going to be a tough game. They have a nice team and we’ll see
how we do. I’m looking forward to it.”
