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Zimpleman also scores in double figures; Lady Comets hold Mac to 4 points in 4th quarter
BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS
Sports Editor, RTC
Isabel Scales scored 18 points, grabbed six rebounds and dished out six assists to lead the Caston girls basketball team to a 56-48 win over Maconaquah in the Miami County Invitational championship game at North Miami High School on Dec. 29.
Maddi Smith had 16 points, and Addison Zimpleman hit a pair of 3-pointers and scored 10. Bailey Harness pulled down seven rebounds to go with her with eight points.
Lilly Maple led Maconaquah with 17 points, and Lauryn Merritt added 15.
Caston made more free throws (11) than Maconaquah attempted (4).
Caston improved to 10-4 and won the Miami County Invitational for the second straight year. Maconaquah fell to 9-5.
Maconaquah led 44-41 after three quarters, but Caston outscored the Lady Braves 15-4 in the fourth quarter.
“The fourth quarter, we rebounded really well,” Caston coach Josh Douglass said. “They got no second-chance opportunities, I believe, in the fourth quarter. In the first half, we were in man for most of it, trying to deny Maple, obviously, because she’s so good. And we weren’t moving or communicating very well. We switched to a 2-3 zone late in the second quarter and came back out in it in the third and fourth quarter. … We put Abby Williamson in to start the fourth on the bottom of that zone, and she cleaned up the boards for us late in that game. Absolutely cleaned them up.”
Offensively, Caston was able to get Maconaquah out of its 1-3-1 zone defense after Zimpleman’s 3-pointers, according to Douglass. Maconaquah then switched to a man-to-man defense.
“We hit Bel (Scales) on dives or Maddison (Smith) in the post,” Douglass said of Caston’s counter to Maconaquah’s man. “Just kind of like the Pioneer game where we spread teams out and screened for each other and pass and cut. Eventually, we’d get that mismatch and took advantage of them.”
Caston girls basketball notes
Caston’s game against Clinton Central scheduled for Tuesday was canceled. No reason was given for the cancellation. Former Caston coach Don Helmick coaches Clinton Central, who won their Class 1A sectional last year.
The Caston-Culver game scheduled for Thursday will start at 6:30 p.m. at Culver. Varsity only.
Caston placed all 11 girls on the varsity roster and all three team managers on the academic all-tournament team.
Sectional rival North White is No. 5 in this week’s Class 1A coaches poll. Caston did not receive any poll votes.
Caston 56, Maconaquah 48
MACONAQUAH (48) (9-5)
Miller 3 0-0 8, Maple 7 2-2 16, A. Merritt 3 0-0 6, Stoll 0 0-0 0, L. Merritt 7 1-2 15, Carson 1 0-0 2
TEAM: 21 3-4 48
CASTON (56) (10-4)
Isabel Scales 5 8-12 18, Addison Zimpleman 4 0-2 10, Bailey Harness 4 0-0 8, Brianna Yarber 0 0-0 0, Maddi Smith 7 2-3 16, Abby Williamson 1 1-2 4, Kinzie Mollenkopf 0 0-0 0
TEAM: 21 11-19 56
Three-point field goals:
Maconaquah 3 (Miller 2, Maple),
Caston 3 (Zimpleman 2, Williamson)
Total fouls: Maconaquah 17, Caston 10
Fouled out: Miller (MAC)
Turnovers: Maconaquah 8, Caston 10
Score by quarters
Maconaquah 15 16 13 4 – 48
Caston 11 20 10 15 – 56
