RAMSEUR — Coaches will often remark how strong defense creates offense, and such was the case for Eastern Randolph Tuesday night.
The Lady Wildcats relied on relentless pressure to force a number of Jordan-Matthews turnovers early-on in jumping out to a 19-5 advantage after one quarter, and behind 26 points from Brecken Snotherly cruised to an easy 63-34 PAC 7 2A Conference triumph over the Lady Jets on their home court.
With a sweep of the season series, Eastern Randolph climbed to 5-3 in the league standings and 9-10 overall, whereas J-M was sent spiraling to its fifth straight loss while falling to 1-7 in the conference and 5-14 for the year.
Joining Snotherly in double figures for the winners were Amya Brooks with 13 points and Savannah Beaver with 10, as the Lady Wildcats connected on 49 percent (24-of-49) of their attempts from the field and held a 26-19 advantage on the boards while turning the ball over 16 times.
Jasmine Scotten notched a career-high 20 points for Jordan-Matthews as the Lady Jets shot 32 percent (13-of-41) from the floor while committing two dozen turnovers.
“I’m proud of our defensive intensity tonight, especially in the first half, which was the key to our fast start,” said Eastern Randolph coach Brett Snotherly. “Ball pressure led to a lot of our points coming on transition baskets resulting from J-M turnovers.
“I thought we let up a bit in the third period, while Jordan-Matthews made adjustments on offense and found success getting the ball inside to Scotten for layups. But I challenged our team to regain its intensity on defense in the fourth quarter, and they responded by doing a good job closing off both the middle and baseline, giving J-M a different look when we switched to a 2-3 zone.”
Lady Jets’ coach Charles Byrd explained ball handling mistakes and not taking high-percentage shots put his team in a huge hole at the outset and it never could recover.
“To start the game we turned over the ball a ton and took a number of questionable shots,” stated Byrd. “That allowed Eastern Randolph to gain confidence and kept us scrambling all night.
“The difference in the third quarter was that we really began to attack more offensively and get the ball inside where our strength is,” Byrd said. “Although Jasmine did a great job around the basket, Eastern Randolph hurt us most in transition, putting pressure on our guards and driving hard to the rim.”
Following Scotten’s layup that tied the score at five-all with 4:28 remaining in the initial stanza, Snotherly and Brooks tallied six points each during the Lady Wildcats’ 14-0 quarter-ending run, and the rout was set in motion.
After back-to-back layups by Snotherly and Brooks to open the second period increased Eastern Randolph’s advantage to 18, Ellia Wright finally halted J-M’s scoring drought with her three-pointer from beyond the top of the key with 5:23 left in the stanza, but the Lady Wildcats would then close out the quarter with a 14-6 burst to seize a 37-14 lead at intermission.
With Scotten registering 12 of her team’s 14 points in the third frame, Jordan-Matthews reduced the gap to 45-28 entering the fourth period, but following her layup with 4:42 to go in the contest that brought the Lady Jets within 52-34, Eastern Randolph proceeded to close out the game with an 11-0 run, forging its biggest advantage of the evening on Kyania Brower’s jumper from the left wing with 30.9 seconds showing on the clock that accounted for the final margin.