Alton Marquette vs West Hancock:5 Key Takeaways
As a part of the Superfan Shootout on Saturday at Quincy Notre Dame, these two fast paced teams went at it. It was a tale of two halves with each teams star player dominating one half. In the end Alton…
Access all of Prep Girls Hoops
Continue reading this article and more.
Continue ReadingAs a part of the Superfan Shootout on Saturday at Quincy Notre Dame, these two fast paced teams went at it. It was a tale of two halves with each teams star player dominating one half. In the end Alton Marquette pulled out a 48-45 victory.
- Adrenna Snipes continues to show how special she is. While she is best known for her ability to get in the lane and score, she has also taken on the responsibility of playing better defense and rebounding more. Coach Green challenged her stop Malarie Ross in the second half and she did. Ross had 20 points at half and didn’t score again. Snipes had 17 in the second half including 9 in the 4th quarter as the Lady Explorers completed the comeback.
- Malarie Ross has a special ability to score the basketball. In the first half she made 4 three pointers including one at the buzzer to give the Titans a 34-21 halftime lead. Once the Marquette defense started closing out more aggressively then Ross started blowing by them off the dribble. She made 6/7 free throws to continue her hot shooting. This 5’2 2022 guard is one that needs to be tracked.
- At times it seems like Coach Green may be doing this with smoke and mirrors. Snipes is the only player that has played in every game this year. Abby Williams is out with an ACL surgery, Kiley Kirchner was injured and missed this game to take the ACT, Kamryn Fandrey has been sick and Jillian Nelson plays a high level club soccer that has forced her to miss games. Those are all starters. At times it has been a wonder how they could keep it together. But, each time it seems they may be in trouble, someone steps up. In the past week it has been senior Emma Nicholson providing valuable minutes. Emma was once considered to be a huge part of the program, but injuries have limited her availability the past two seasons. This year she was pegged for a team manager role until around Christmas when she decided to give it one more shot. She is an Illinois College softball commit who has shown some life and hit some big shots that the team did not expect 45 days ago.
- West Hancock got contributions from multiple players that benefit from the attention that Ross commands. Junior guard Josie Radel had a good game for the Titans. She had 10 points and took over the scoring load when Ross was in foul trouble. She was able to score in the lane and did a good job of taking the ball to the basket. Seniors Alivia Jacquot and Macy Gray also played well for the Titans. Jacquot had 5 points including a 3 pointer in the first half. Sophomores Bailey Barber and Bliss Martin showed the capacity to become players at the next level. Barber scored some key points in the second half while the Titans tried to keep the lead and Martin showed a nice long frame that she used well in the lane rebounding and defending.
- Both teams begin Regional play this week and have the opportunity to make some noise. Both teams will have to avenge losses from earlier in the year to hoist some hardware. West Hancock will play in the Rushville/Industry Regional with a game against the host hat should provide a victory. With that win they will face Monmouth, the 3 seed. They split with Monmouth during the year. If they can fight out a victory that would land them in another rematch against QND if the seeds hold up. QND beat the Titans by 9 early in the season. Alton Marquette plays in the Gillespie Regional where they will most likely face the host team in the semifinals. This is a rematch of a game in November where Marquette held on to withstand a late surge from Gillespie to win by 8. If the Lady Explorers can get by this game they will most likely get another rematch against Breese Mater Dei. Mater Dei won the earlier game by 21 on their home court. Marquette started strong and forced Mater Dei to go to a zone and the strategy worked. Marquette struggled to score and dropped a 20 point loss. It will be interesting to see if the Lady Explorers can grab the momentum again and hold on to it this time around.
This was a great event showcasing other 2A powers, QND and Freeburg. Palmyra, Mo and West Central IL were also feature and are both having good seasons. The event has been run for over 20 years and I look forward to attending again next season.