Maize girls’ defense shuts down Goddard

Maize allowed the ball to cross half court, but that was about it.

A half-court trap proved highly effective as the Maize girls basketball team forced turnovers and turned them into easy points in a 36-19 win at Goddard. Even in the few times the strong Maize defense did allow Goddard to get into its offense, the home team struggled shooting, making just one shot from the field in each of the first two quarters for a 2-for-17 first half.

The rust of an 18-day break over the holidays was obvious for both teams. They combined to miss the first eight shots of the game before Maize rode a 9-0 run, all from senior Taylor Holmes, for a 13-4 lead early in the second quarter.

Maize (5-1) pulled away in the second quarter, surging on a 10-0 run that nearly lasted until halftime. The win came after the Eagles spent more than two weeks off thinking about a 2-point loss at Newton to wrap up the 2016 portion of the schedule. The 2017 part couldn’t have started better, especially for a defense that held Goddard to 7 for 29 (24.1 percent) shooting.

“We’re too good, too fast and too quick to not run that defensively,” Maize coach Jerrod Handy said of his team’s half-court trap. “We’ve just got to get better at it.”

Handy said he was pleased with the performance considering it came against one of the best teams they’ve faced this season. Goddard entered the night averaging 38.6 points per game and was held to its lowest scoring total this season.

It was also the lowest scoring game of the season for Maize, which averaged 51.4 points over its first five games.

“I was kind of surprised we didn’t score more out off our press. We only scored 36 points, so that’s a low-scoring game,” Handy said. “It was a defensive battle. They played really good defense also.”

After the early offensive struggles and poor shooting, Goddard finally woke up in the third quarter. Freshman Kade Hackerott created her own offense, scoring on back-to-back possessions including a deep three-pointer before senior Madison Smith hit a three of her own. The 8-0 run took only 62 seconds and produced more points than Goddard’s previous 22 minutes.

Smith, who had a team-leading 11 points average, fouled out in the fourth quarter with 7 points. Hackerott scored 10 points, but CJ Wilhelm (2 points) was the only other Goddard player to score.

Holmes scored 12 of her game-high 16 points in the first half. Maize point guard Caitlyn Stewart – a key part of the defensive half-court trap – added 7 points and went 4 for 5 from the free throw line in the fourth quarter.

This story was originally published January 3, 2017 at 8:29 PM with the headline "Maize girls’ defense shuts down Goddard."