Storm pulls away from Potter-Dix to claim 61-40 win

On the face of it, Creek Valley cruised to a 61-40 win at Potter-Dix on Friday night. But Storm head coach Bill Wilber saw things differently.

"Against Hyannis and Maxwell we ran," he said. "Tonight-I don't know if they were thinking about Caliche."

Perhaps the tentative nature he perceived resulted from a flurry of fouls that slowed play. Both teams earned the bonus just a few ticks into the second quarter. Creek Valley went to the line 41 times during the game, while the Coyotes picked up 11 points on their 26 visits.

"That's one of our biggest weaknesses-fouling and foul shooting," admitted Storm guard Jerry Straber.

Creek Valley hit on just 36.5 percent of their 41 free throw attempts.

Yet the home side also had a say in the matter, twice threatening an upset. Although the visitors drew first blood, the Coyotes hammered out a 7-0 run early in the first quarter on inside shots by Dawson Sharman and Alexus Rozelle sandwiching a three by Taylor Juelfs that touched nothing but nylon.

"We hustled better," Rozelle said of the outburst. Indeed, her put back capping the run came while falling backward from a bitter scrum under the rim.

Straber and the Storm soon stamped out the rally. The senior guard converted from the wing and followed with a fast break layup. At the end of one, Creek Valley was back on top by a 17-12 margin.

In the second period, Creek Valley began to pull away. The Coyotes fell into an offensive trance, stalling on 16 points for a full 5:42 while the visitors forged a 10-0 run. Potter-Dix's sharpshooting Juelfs, who drained a pair of threes in the opening frame, was silenced as Wilber shifted his defense to a box and one.

"She's one of their top scorers," the Storm's Hannah Schievelbein said of Juelfs. "That gave us an advantage."

With just over two minutes remaining before the half, Summer Mueller hit a leaner inside the paint, handing the Storm a 30-16 lead. The dormant hosts woke from their slumber, however-and did so with some fury.

Juelfs broke the spell from the line and Tiffany Lewis followed up with two free throws. Morgan Wolff then tacked a quick five on the board, dropping a pair from the line, following up a Sharman miss with a physical put back and adding the bonus when fouled by Creek Valley's Jill Behrends-a personal run that closed the gap to 8 points at 32-24.

"We don't usually rely on her for a lot of points, but she hit some big shots," said Potter-Dix head coach Jeff Einspahr.

For Wolff, the outburst was just a matter of seizing the opportunities presented to her.

"They took away our outside shot," she explained. "I did what I had to do."

Wolff held the reins at 8 during a terse back and forth third quarter, draining a neat jumper as time ran down. But Schievelbein and freshman Jessie Straber teamed up to prevent a Coyotes comeback.

They answered Wolff's score with an easy basket of their own, the younger Straber whipping the ball inside to an open Schievelbein. A few moments earlier, they had converted in more spectacular fashion-Straber flying out of bounds to corral a loose ball and flinging it to her teammate before crashing into the wall.

"It hurt," the freshman admitted. "But I'm JV-I'm trying to impress my coach."

Her saving pass, on which Schievelbein scored, was more a matter of improvisation than forethought.

"When I got the ball I turned and there she was," Jessie Straber said.

The final eight minutes belonged to the Storm, as they outpaced Potter-Dix 21-10 over the span.

Mueller, Behrends and Jerry Straber each reached double digits for Creek Valley, with Mueller's 16 points leading all scorers. Juelfs again found some shooting space in the final stretch, putting up 11 to pace the Coyotes.

Juelfs leads Coyotes past Paxton on road

Stephen McKay

The Potter-Dix girls basketball team evened their record at 2-2 with a 41-34 road win over Paxton in a non-district game on Saturday.

The 17 points Taylor Juelfs tossed on the board paced the Coyotes offensive attack. Juelfs was followed on the score sheet by a pair of freshmen. Alexus Rozelle and Brooke Glass scored 7 and 8 points, respectively. Meanwhile, senior Morgan Wolff had 6 points to go along with a team high 4 assists and 5 steals.

Potter-Dix's defense held Paxton to just 12 points in the second half to help power the victory. Statistical leaders for the Coyotes on defense included 6 boards each by Glass and Wolff and 5 more by Rozelle.

The Coyotes will travel to Dalton Tuesday for a showdown with Leyton at 5 p.m.

Caliche too strong for Storm

Dave Faries

Head coach Bill Wilber had a simple explanation for Creek Valley's disappointing 81-37 performance against Caliche on Saturday.

"The basics of the game," he said, referring to the routine of passing, boxing out and hitting shots. "We weren't doing them."

Statistics from the lopsided contest confirm his observation. The Storm turned the ball over 26 times, including 17 Caliche steals. They were outrebounded 51-32. They committed 25 fouls, with two players reaching the maximum. And Creek Valley's usually consistent offense hit just 18 percent from the floor.

Yet they started off like a team that matched up well with the tough Colorado squad. Just a few seconds into the game, Summer Mueller tip the ball away from the visitors and drove down court for a layup to open the scoring. A couple of minutes later, following a Shania Brown free throw, it was still a tight 6-3 affair.

Moments after the Buffaloes' Taylor Weingardt hit a short jumper, however, things began to unravel for the home side. Creek Valley's collective shooting touch cooled and they fouled on three consecutive Caliche possession.

Still, the Buffaloes' 20-8 advantage after the first came as a surprise. Mueller and Jerry Straber had teamed up on a fast break. Mueller, Hannah Schievelbein and Jill Behrends tacked on points from the line. The team continued to scrap, up and down the floor.

The visitors just pulled away, inexorably.

"They are solid," Madison Blackwelder observed.

Blackwelder helped the Storm close in on a respectable 20 points just before halftime, as she fought through the crowd underneath the rim and scored on a put back.

"I just hoped it would go in," she said. "The rest of my shots weren't falling."

There were other bright spots. Behrends blocked a shot at the start of the second half. Mueller scooped up the ball and raced down court for a neat two. Straber converted on 9 of 12 free throw attempts and Behrends drained a late three, despite battling a cold.

Both Mueller and Straber again slapped double digits on the board-Mueller 15 and Straber 12.

But there was too much Caliche.

"A lot of it was their bench," Blackwelder said, attributing the scoring gap to Caliche's depth.

Indeed, ten Buffaloes ended up in the scoring column, five registering 10 or more points. Caliche's center, Jessica Taylor, racked up 17 points on 78 percent shooting. Guard Jadyn Lambrecht did not miss an attempt from the floor all night.

Other than an evening of disappointment, the loss means little in the long run.

"For our conference and districts we should be fine," Wilbur pointed out.

Mueller agreed.

"We need to forget this game and move on," she said. "That's the only thing we can do."

Girls Basketball

Creek Valley 61

Potter-Dix 40