Stingy defense helps Knoch girls top Apollo-Ridge in Section 1-4A contest

By: HSSN Staff
Thursday, January 3, 2019 | 11:06 PM

Knoch’s girls basketball team ran into the gym for warmups with Metallica’s “Enter Sandman” booming out of the speakers. Once the Knights took the floor for the game, they played defense with intensity akin to a heavy metal guitar solo.

With a 1-3-1 trapping zone, the Knights pressured passes, got hands in passing lanes and forced a litany of turnovers while holding Apollo-Ridge to single-digit point totals in all four quarters in a 45-29 home victory in a Section 1-4A game Thursday night.

From Skye Burkett, Madilyn Boyer, Abbey Shearer and Jaylee Lassinger pressuring the ball-handler after a pass to Lauren Cihonski deflecting passes in the middle of the zone, Knoch was in sync on the defensive side of the court.

“We had good energy, and that starts with Skylar (Burkett) up top,” Knoch coach Chris Andreassi said. “She goes four quarters, and she never stops. Madilyn was real active from her position. They all were pretty active. Lauren Cihonski did a great job in the middle. I don’t know how many steals she has, but she had a ton of deflections. It was a nice effort.”

Apollo-Ridge (7-2, 2-2) held an 8-5 lead after the first quarter, but Knoch (5-4, 3-1) continued its strong defense in the second and eventually got things rolling on offense.

Cihonski banked in a layup that gave the Knights a 9-8 lead, and they never trailed again. Knoch held Apollo-Ridge off the scoreboard for the first six minutes of the second before Liz Penrose nailed a 3-pointer that cut Knoch’s lead to 12-11. Boyer and Burkett responded by hitting back-to-back 3s, and the Knights took an 18-14 lead into halftime.

“We knew that we needed to get in their heads with our zone, and I felt like we did that,” Cihonski said. “We did a good job with the 1-3-1. I think we got stronger as the game went on, because we knew how to work as a team with all of our plays, and I think we really got to them at points in the game.”

Cihonski finished with a game-high 15 points. Boyer, a freshman, had 12 points, and Burkett finished with nine points.

Knoch opened the second half on a 9-2 run and led by as many as 13 points in the third quarter. Apollo-Ridge trailed by double digits for the entire fourth quarter. The Vikings had some opportunities to cut the lead to single digits, but missed several point-blank shots in the paint, including three layups in the span of 30 seconds midway through the fourth.

“They kicked our butts from the opening tip to the final horn,” Apollo-Ridge coach Jim Callipare said. “We got many looks, and I’d say on the conservative side we missed about 20 layups tonight. But you have to give them credit. They played good defense.

“It wasn’t our night. You hope you never have a night like this, but in a 22-game schedule you have one or two of these games a season. Nothing was working for us tonight. We’ll lick our wounds and get back at it tomorrow at practice.”

Knoch played without standout sophomore Nevaeh Ewing, who’s been out since injuring her wrist in a game at Kiski Area on Dec. 10. The Knights have gone 4-3 since her injury.

Knoch did not return a starter from last year’s team, but Andreassi credits his team’s bond as a factor to why it’s been able to get off to a 3-1 start in section play.

“These girls are really close and it doesn’t matter who’s on the floor, they pull for one another,” Andreassi said. “They’re friends and it’s pretty cool how well they get along. To Nevaeh’s credit, she never misses practice. She comes out and works with her left hand for the full two hours.”

Jerin Steele is a freelance writer.

Tags: Apollo-Ridge, Knoch