Redmen survive cold shooting in NBC win

ROSSFORD – After a putrid offensive first half, Fostoria still had the lead at halftime.Once the Lady Red were able to play better, they put Rossford away.Fostoria turned to post Lyrique Johnson in the third quarter and she finished with 13 points and 11 rebounds, lifting the Lady Red to a 37-23 Northern Buckeye Conference win over the Bulldogs on Monday."We had to come out and play as hard as we could," Johnson said. "Even though our shots weren't falling, we had to keep shooting. We play really well on defense all the time."Fostoria (6-9 overall, 5-5 NBC) led just 12-8 at halftime after making just 3-of-30 shots in the first half. The Lady Red made that many shots in less than the first 90 seconds of the third quarter. Johnson scored twice while Jatasia Jones scored down low to make it 18-10."We walked in and told them at halftime that we weren't shooting it well," said FHS coach Derek Angelone of the halftime talk. "We were playing great team defense. They had eight points at halftime. We told them that was great team defense. If you hold a team under 10 points in a half of basketball, we're praising it the entire time."Jones split two free throws then scored off a Brooklyn Holman offensive rebound to make it 21-10. Consecutive scores from Johnson increased the lead to 26-12.Fostoria pushed the lead to 28-14 after three quarters. The Lady Red made 7-of-14 shots in the third quarter."Lyrique had some times that she didn't finish, but she had great looks," Angelone said. "She used her body extremely well tonight. She got low in the post and did a lot of great things. When things aren't going well, we have to get the ball back to the bread and butter."Fostoria's defense did more than enough against Rossford (3-12, 1-9). The Lady Red forced 30 turnovers on the night including 20 in the first half. Holman nabbed seven steals for Fostoria."I thought we played great on the ball pressure and great help defense," Angelone said. "We did a lot of things right defensively. Normally when you do all those things right defensively, it feeds into your offense." The Lady Red put the game away for good in the fourth quarter. Holman nailed a jumper to open the quarter and later, Amijah Poole scored to keep Fostoria up 33-19."We've got to knock down some of those shots, especially at the rim," Angelone said. "We'll probably get the pad out tomorrow and have them finish through contact because to be blatantly honest, we don't get calls. We know we don't get calls."It has never been something we use as an excuse. We refuse to use it as an excuse. We have to learn how to finish through contact."It was a wretched first half for both teams. Johnson scored on a putback to open the scoring, but it was Fostoria's only tally of the first quarter. The Lady Red made just the one shot on 16 attempts in the opening eight minutes.Rossford led 4-2 after one quarter, but Chazlyn Titus hit a 3 to open the second quarter for Fostoria and the Lady Red never trailed again. The Bulldogs tied the game at 8, but Karma Williams and Johnson each made two free throws to give Fostoria a 12-8 advantage at halftime."I think we mixed up our looks," Angelone said. "This team is really, really good and do a really good job focusing defensively of when we want to mix up our looks. I think last game we played six different defenses against Maumee. The game didn't come out the way we wanted it to."But, they're always doing a very good job adapting defensively."Fostoria topped Rossford in the first meeting back on Dec. 7, 60-38."It was the same thing that night - Lyrique was big for us," Angelone said. "We knew that was an option. We were trying to get Rossford in foul trouble a little bit. We tried to attack down low and kick from there."Jones tallied five points and four rebounds while Holman (five rebounds), Titus, and Poole (four rebounds) each scored four points."The girls have goals as a team. We know we gave away opportunities to win some games," Angelone said. "We lost out on opportunities to be where we feel like we should be in the league. We don't want to let anybody beat us twice. We have goals." Fostoria 37, Rossford 23Fostoria 2-10-16-9 - 37Rossford 4-4-6-9 - 23Fostoria (6-9, 5-5): 13-54 FG, 10-18 FT, 1-11 3pt (Titus), 36 rebounds (L. Johnson 11), 19 turnovers. Scoring: Brooklyn Holman 2 0-0 4, Jatasia Jones 2 1-2 5, Lyrique Johnson 5 3-6 13, Amijah Poole 1 2-4 3, Karma Williams 0 2-2 2, Chazlyn Titus 1 1-2 4, Alajah Williams 2 0-0 4, Kamari Johnson 0 1-2 1.Rossford (3-12, 1-9): 9-31 FG, 5-8 FT, 0-6 3pt, 32 rebounds (DeBartoli 9), 30 turnovers. Scoring: Scarlett Williams 6 3-4 15, Mia DeBartoli 1 0-0 2, Jadyn Durfey 0 0-0 0, Sadie St. Mary 1 0-0 2, Madison Kutscher 1 0-0 2, Nicole Grix 0 1-2 1, Brooklyn Hilt 0 1-2 1.