The Lady Devils would change that in the second half, outscoring the Trojans 28-12 over the final 16 minutes to get a 46-24 victory in an SEOAL contest. Portsmouth struggled from the field throughout the contest, making just eight shots.
“Anything that we set up to run, we didn't execute it at all,” said Trojans coach Joe Albrecht. “Maybe Zanesville's defense had a lot to do with it, I don't know.”
Both teams struggled from the start, as the Lady Devils and Trojans combined for just 30 points in the first half. Zanesville had many chances to add on to its lead - the team held a rebounding edge - but managed just an 18-12 lead at the half. The defense kept Portsmouth off the board until the 40-second mark of the second quarter.
Albrecht said that he was pleased with the team's defensive effort in the first half.
“I thought we matched up well defensively,” he said. “We haven't been in man (defense) like that all year. I knew that they had a couple of girls that could score, and we tried to take them out. I was not disappointed at all in the first half with the defense.”
The Lady Devils would increase the lead to 13 at the end of the third quarter, and led by as many as 27 in the fourth.
Jennifer Bendolph led the Trojans in scoring with seven points and six rebounds, and Sydnee Jordan and Maggee Colley each had six points. Jordan added five rebounds and three blocks, and Brittany Stanley had four rebounds.
In the end, it was Zanesville's rebounding edge that evened their record, both on the season and in the SEOAL.
“For us, it is a huge deal,” said Zanesville coach Libby McCandlish. “The two things we emphasize are rebounding and turnovers. We are not a very tall team, so that means that we have to crash the boards hard. We work on that extremely hard. We can't allow teams to get three or four shots on us every time down the floor. We have to limit them to one shot.”
Beth Walsh led the team in scoring with 11 points, adding six rebounds, and Harris had eight points with a game-high 14 rebounds. Aisha Reese had nine points and nine rebounds.
“We missed a couple of putbacks, but we ended up shooting the ball really well,” said Libby McCandlish. “And we finally as a team, and this is a step up for us, we finally had everyone on the floor score. Lately, we have been relying on one person (Tara Harris) as far as leading the team in scoring.
“We finally had a full team effort.”
Portsmouth travels to Fairland on Monday.
JOSH HICKLE can be reached at (740) 353-3101, ext. 241.
Zanesville 11 7 10 18 - 46
Portsmouth 8 4 3 9 - 24
Zanesville - Walsh 3 4 11, Reese 3 3 9, Harris 3 2 8, Roessler 2 3 7, Brantley 1 3 5, McFarland 1 2 4, Lianez 1 0 2. Totals 14 17 46.
Portsmouth - Bendolph 2 3 7, Colley 2 2 6, Jordan 2 2 6, Taylor 1 0 3, Stanley 1 0 2. Totals 8 7 24.
3-pointers - Zanesville 1 (Walsh), Portsmouth 1 (Taylor).
Records - Portsmouth 1-4 (0-2), Zanesville 2-2 (1-1).
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