FREMONT – The glass-half-full view: Despite entering the fourth quarter trailing by 21 points, the Lady Giants battled back in a valiant attempt to make things interesting against Lima Senior.
The glass-half-empty view: Ross buried itself in too deep a hole to climb out from in the first three quarters.
Both views certainly have their merits as the Lady Giants’ fourth-quarter effort couldn’t erase the damage done early in a 63-48 loss to the Spartans Thursday.
“We have to take the positive out of the fourth quarter in that they didn’t give up, they showed some life,” coach Juan Vela said. “We were down 13 with four minutes to go and we have a chance. …(If we can get it to) 30 seconds, down by three, I’ll take that.
“I told the girls, I love this team, we have the skill, we just have to decide what route we want to go,” he added. “Do we want to be great or do we just want to be mediocre? Because we have to do the little things better.”
The little things that stymied the Lady Giants Thursday was the Spartans’ quickness, which led to numerous turnovers, and a defensive effort that couldn’t get crucial stops to allow the offense to establish momentum.
Lima used a trapping, full-court press for much of the night and the Spartans’ quickness in the half-court also presented problems as Ross’ turned the ball over five, seven and nine times in each of the first three quarters.
When Ross managed to hold onto the ball and score, the Lady Giants struggled to slow down the Spartans’ offense as Lima answered Ross’ baskets with quick scores of its own to maintain its lead throughout the night.
“When you score a basket and you give up a basket, and you’re not getting stops, you can’t generate anything,” Vela said. “Defensively we were flat, we didn’t go after rebounds, they got a lot of second-chance points. We get those one-and-dones, we get more possessions offensively, and things start going our way, but it all has to start defensively.”
Entering the fourth quarter trailing by 21 points, 54-33, Ross could have folded its tent and began looking forward to its next game, but they Lady Giants battled.
Ross’ defense finally got some defensive stops and the offense controlled the ball better. Olivia Baptista hit a 3-pointer then Mikeaya McLaurin followed with a jumper and Jasannah Sabiers scored in the post as Ross jumped out a 10-2 run to open the fourth quarter, prompting Lima Senior to call timeout and re-insert its starters back into the game. With five remaining, Ross whittled the deficit down to 13, 56-43,
Following the timeout, however, Lima was able to hold the ball and eat chunks of clock 20 and 30 seconds at a time. Though the possessions didn’t result in scores, Ross made just one more field goal in the next three minutes, unable to continue the momentum.
“As quick as Lima is, I thought they did a really good job of being patient and getting what they wanted,” Vela said. “They didn’t just fire up a shot. They got into the lane with a drive or got second-chance rebounds. Lima was the better team tonight.”
Ross (3-2 overall, 1-2 TRAC) was led in scoring by Olivia Baptista’s 13 points while Sabiers added 12 and Marissa Overmyer, who had four assists, added eight points.
The Lady Giants return to the court Monday when they host St. Ursula.
Lima Senior 63, Fremont Ross 48
LS| 13—23—18—9 – 63
FR| 10—13—10—15 –48
LIMA SENIOR (63)
Sigman 12; McDonald 18; Washington 14; Miller 9; Bean 1; Williams 3; Bullock 4.
FREMONT ROSS (48)
Olivia Baptista 13; Rachel Gore 3; Mikeaya McLaurin 5; Jasannah Sabiers 12; Marissa Overmyer 8; Molly Mies 2; Brooklyn Baptista 5.