“Friday Night Fury” – Vance Exposes Mallard Creek 47-36 – 7 Takeaways
In the most anticipated game of the week,once beaten Mallard Creek (15-2, 6-2) invaded the Cougar Den and came away with an emphatic defeat against Vance High (14-4, 6-2), 47-36. This was in stark contrast to the earlier meeting between…
Access all of Prep Girls Hoops
Continue reading this article and more.
Continue ReadingIn the most anticipated game of the week,once beaten Mallard Creek (15-2, 6-2) invaded the Cougar Den and came away with an emphatic defeat against Vance High (14-4, 6-2), 47-36. This was in stark contrast to the earlier meeting between the two teams at Creek that the Mavericks won 61-58 back on December 10th. After that December game. I strongly hinted that the better team may not have won and that I expected a different result when the two teams ran it back on Vance’s floor. In the first game, Vance led for the majority of the game until self destructing in the fourth quarter. This time there was no such collapse and the result was, at least from my perspective, predictable. Here are 7 takeaways from this contest that I think merit mentioning and monitoring as we move further towards the close of this amazing high school season we are witnessing.
- Leah Barringer was the Player of the Game. While the numbers don’t jump off the page at you (11 Points,3 Assists and 6 Rebounds), Barringer, the 5’8″ Junior Wing made all the big plays and provided everything a winning team needs to be successful. She guarded Freshman phenom Samyah Suffren for most of the game and was instrumental in holding her to 2 FGs the entire game. She even had a nasty spill in the 2nd half that had spectators concerned that she might have had a concussion, but she refused to leave the floor and helped Vance close out the victory.
- You know Vance is really good when they can survive a subpar offensive game from Kyanna Morgan and still beat a quality team like Mallard Creek. Morgan only scored 4 points last night. She’s a big time player and for most teams that type of offensive drought from a top gun would be a recipe for disaster. Yet, although she didn’t score, she locked down Mallard Creek leading scorer and Wake Forest commit Nevaeh Brown, holding her to an ineffectual 14 points.
- Tanajah Hayes (14 Points, 2 Assists 2 Rebounds) is putting it all together and becoming the player we all felt like she would be when the season started. Flashback to December 10: Vance leads Mallard Creek midway through the 4th Quarter and Hayes steals the ball from Suffren. Hayes makes a layup, proceeds to bark at Suffren and picks up a crippling technical that completely changes momentum and leads to Mallard Creek taking control and ultimately taking the win. Last night, she was cool under pressure, efficient and played better defense than she displayed earlier in the season. Besides the victory, the highlight of the game for her occurred in the 2nd quarter when the game was halted to recognize the 5’6″ Junior Guard becoming the all time steals leader in school history.
- Nevaeh Brown has been pulling out close games for Mallard Creek all year, but when she isn’t exceptional, they are in trouble. I have attended multiple Mallard Creek games this year, and the typical script goes like this. Brown starts off slowly. You hardly notice she’s on the floor. Then, invariably, she will take over and puts her stamp on the game offensively and defensively (her signature defensive move is the chase down block which I have seen her do on multiple occasions this year – in fact, last night Hayes was so keenly aware of her chase down prowess that she pumped faked on a layup and then blew the bunny as Brown flew by). By the end of the game, you read the box score and Brown has gotten 21 points, 4 assists, 6 rebounds, 3 steals and 2 blocks and you are shaking your head in amazement. She is a winning player that has bailed Creek out on multiple occasions earlier in the year. Last night though, she didn’t have it. Whether she was sick, tired (more on this later), or just having one of those days, she wasn’t her normal dominant self. When she’s not Superwoman, Mallard Creek becomes very beatable.
- Vance can beat teams in so many different ways. Whether it is the disciplined, high-low games of 6’2″ Sophomore Post Trinity Moreland (8 Points, 1 Assist and 12 Rebounds) and 6’1″ Junior Post Amhyia Moreland (7 Points, 1 Assist and 9 Rebounds) or the all around brilliance of Morgan, Vance makes you pick your poison. If the inside game isn’t working, Hayes can take people off the dribble and create. If their shots aren’t falling, the Morelands and the always active Morgan will pound you on the backboards with put backs. They also get strong and timely contributions from their top two reserves 5’3″ Junior Guard M’Kaylah Marshall (3 Points and 1 Rebound) and 5’8″ Sophomore Wing Kaia Barringer (2 Rebounds). While the statistics produced by the Vance reserves aren’t jaw dropping, the ladies don’t look out of place or like the moment is too big for them. This will serve the Cougars well as the calendar turns to February and beyond.
- Mallard Creek will continue to win a lot of games, but until they develop some depth that can truly be counted on, they will eventually falter when competition stiffens at the Regional and State level. Mallard Creek’s Iron 5 of Brown, Suffren, 6’1″ Junior Wing Kennedy Simpson, 5’10” Senior Wing Lauren Walker and 5’11” Senior Post Hali Doctor have been magnificent this year as evidenced by the 15-1 record Creek had coming into this game. However, on Friday night they looked like a tired, listless squad. Six weeks ago I pointed out that their lack of depth would ultimately be their undoing. The Mavericks scored 36 points last night. This would have been an ideal time to see if 5’3″ Junior Point Guard Alexis Bynum could have come in and run the offense for a couple of minutes to give Brown and Suffren a blow, or if 5’8″ Freshman Ashley Fowler could have come in and hit a three and provided a spark to a team that was shooting the ball horribly. Those two never saw the floor. Ironically when Creek did substitute, the two reserves who played, played well. 5’10” Freshman Post Jada Creech and 5’9″ Senior Wing Deshonti Lutz came in and played good defense and weren’t lost on the offensive end. After Lutz came in for Walker and gave her a rest, Walker returned shortly thereafter and hit a big three to keep Creek close. I think the Mallard Creek bench has talent, but will that talent be ready when called upon if they haven’t been exposed to high level game situations like last night and like they’ll undoubtedly see as the season progresses?
- It really is becoming quite common to see attendance and atmosphere at these high level girls games rival that of similar boys games. Kudos to Vance and the crowd in attendance last night. This game had the feel of a big time event, in part because of the competing squads, but also because of the music and light show preceding the games. The atmosphere was charged and there wasn’t some late arriving throng who were only there to take in the boys game. The gym was bumping with excitement and anticipation at 6 P.M.. As the proud father of two athletic daughters myself, it’s great to see the growing interest in the improving product that is Prep Girls Hoops.