Bouncing back after tough loss on the road at St. Catherine’s, the Covenant girls basketball team dominated Stuart Hall for a 61-36 victory Thursday night.
Everything seemed to click for the Eagles, who jumped out to an early lead and never looked back. Covenant coach Doug Smethurst knew his team was ready for a strong performance.
“I’m really pleased because we had a great outing on Tuesday, but we didn’t win against St. Catherine’s. Tonight, I feel like we took another step forward,” Smethurst said. “I think they’re starting to get it. We’re doing things we didn’t do at the beginning of December.”
Stuart Hall was no match for Covenant. The Eagles played an aggressive man defense, and the Dragons turned the ball over 18 times in the first two periods. Going into halftime, Covenant had a 29-14 lead and a combined 14 steals.
The Eagles didn’t lose focus after the half and pulled away for a 45-19 lead at one point during the third. Thanks to that cushion, Smethurst was able to use a healthy rotation of players that kept fresh legs on the court.
Showing zero selfishness with the ball, every player on Covenant’s roster put points on the board. Margot Leibl had a team-high 13 points. Treasure Doberson chipped in with 10, while River Frazier added five steals.
“I thought every girl did a nice job tonight. We only have 10 girls on the team. We trust everyone to play hard, but it nice to get some players extended playing time,” Smethurst added. “All the girls see playing time, but it was nice to see our second group do so well. Every one of them had some great individual plays.”
The lone bright spot for Stuart Hall was Katie Hoover, who led all scorers with 20 points.
The Eagles travel to Collegiate on Monday for the quarterfinals of the LIS Conference Tournament. Smethurst hopes that his team continues to play with confidence.
“I think we need to continue to do what we’re doing. We’re getting better, we’re getting more precise, and we’re understanding more of what we’re supposed to do. We’re just trying to continue to go forward and improve,” Smethurst said. “Collegiate beat us pretty good the last time we were down there, so we’re looking forward to the challenge and to give them a more competitive game.”
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