First Posted: 2/5/2015
SHAWNEE TOWNSHIP — It looked like an avalanche rolling down the mountain.
Once the Bath press began gobbling up turnovers, there was no stopping it.
Bath forced 29 turnovers in an 83-22 girls basketball rout over Shawnee on Thursday at Lappin Gymnasium.
For the Wildkittens, it marked their 40th straight regular-season Western Buckeye League victory. In another streak, Bath stands 55-0 all-time against Shawnee.
Bath’s Maddie Dackin led the Wildkittens with 24 points, 16 in the first half. Alyssa Manley scored 12, while Cassie Best had 11. Haylee Brenek and Lindsey Singhaus both scored 10 off the bench.
As for the WBL streak, Dackin said it isn’t discussed much.
“As a team, we don’t focus on it very much,” she said. “The kids at school mention it, but we don’t focus on that part of it. We just want to keep going, win the WBL and win titles.”
Bath stands 16-1, 7-0 in the WBL. Shawnee is 7-12, 3-4 in the WBL.
“I thought our whole team played pretty well,” Bath coach Greg Mauk said. “I thought Maddie was really, really good tonight. “And (Haylee) Brenek and (Brittanie) Ulmer (with six points) came in and were fantastic.”
The streak against Shawnee isn’t discussed by the team either.
“We see it in the news, but we try not to talk about it,” Dackin said. “We focus on us, the game and playing right now.”
Bath led 15-10 early in the second quarter after Shawnee’s Rachel Evans knocked down two straight 3-pointers.
Bath’s 2-2-1 full-court press hit full throttle right after that. That kicked in Dackin and Cassie Best, the two front people in the Wildkittens’ press. Dackin scored 14 in the second quarter, while Best had six.
Bath forced 10 of its 19 first-half turnovers in the second quarter. That jump started the Bath offense and it ripped off a 15-0 run to pull out to a 30-10 lead with 2:10 left in the second quarter.
It was never close again.
“We made three turnovers and it was like all the air just came out of it,” Shawnee coach Jeff Heistan said. “We kind of let down and they went on a run. Our kids lost confidence and we never regained ourselves.”
Dackin and Best both sank 3-pointers during that run and Best had a three-point play.
“We wanted to get up in their face, pressure them and turn them over,” Dackin said. “Our offense started developing (after getting turnovers), we started to slow down, relax and play.”
Added Best, “We played defense very well and we were able to knock down our shots.
Mauk said Best and Dackin were the big keys in the press.
“That press is predicated on the two people up front, who are quick, agile and can pressure the basketball and make it tough for people to get it over the press and those two kids were really good at that tonight,” Mauk said.
Bath won the boards, 38-24. Ellie Dackin and Manley both had five rebounds for Bath.
Evans led Shawnee with nine points and two 3-pointers.
