Some early season scouting paid off for the Kirtland Hornets in a 40-30 non-conference win at Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin on Tuesday.
The Hornets knew what to expect from the Lions and executed the game plan to perfection to improve to 2-0 on the season.
“What they wanted to do was isolate us and drive hard, get to the basket and draw a foul or get a basket. We knew that from scouting them,” said Kirtland coach Bob Bell. “Our kids did a nice job of containing most of the drives. Obviously we didn’t contain them all but we did most of them. We got out there and got a hand up on the shot.”
On offense, the Hornets had to work hard for their points.
Taylor Somodji led Kirtland with 21 points while Sydney Snyder contributed with eight and Deanna Ponzani and Claire Neibecker had six and five, respectively.
“NDCL takes great pride in their defense and they do play good defense but our girls were determined to get to the basket and they did,” Bell said. “They set their defense to try to shut down Sydney and Taylor. They kind of cut into Syd’s scoring but she played well. Taylor came up big with 21.”
Ponzani and Neibecker controlled the post.
“Claire and Dee played really well inside,” Bell said. “They worked really well inside and pressured their girls. We played great defense and caused them to miss some shots.”
Kerri Zalba ran the offense and Katie McCollister and Jenna Sayle also made non-scoring contributions.
“Kerri Zalba played a great floor game,” Bell said. “Katie McCollister came off the bench and also Jenna Sayle. They did an excellent job for us. Without them coming off the bench and keeping everything together for us we couldn’t have won the game.”
Kirtland hosts Berkshire on Wednesday in the 2015-2016 Chagrin Valley Conference Valley Division opener.
