Senecas snatch big road win over Danbury, extend win streak to 10

LAKESIDE – Calvert prides itself on defense.The Senecas are among the best defensive teams in the area and proved that in a big way Thursday.Calvert didn't allow a Danbury field goal for more than 10 minutes and that paced the Senecas to a 46-36 Sandusky Bay Conference River Division win over the Lakers."Our whole gameplan was to get back in our 2-3 zone," Calvert coach Aaron Sheets said. "If something isn't broke, don't fix it. Our 2-3 zone worked well because it's basically just a matchup zone. We change it every game. We try to take away strengths. In the first half, we took away (Ella) McDonald by playing under her and she didn't get a point."After a 3-pointer by Ella McDonald cut the Calvert (10-1, 7-1 SBC River) lead to 22-19 at halftime, Danbury (10-2, 7-1) didn't have another shot fall until Thea Brickner's 3-pointer early in the fourth quarter.By that time, the Senecas were up by double-digits. The triple cut it to 35-27 with 7:15 to play, but seven points was all the closer the Lakers got."We knew all day long they were going to play 2-3 zone," Danbury coach Joe Miller said. "It wasn't a surprise. It just felt like at times their length and our inability to finish shots really hurt us. I felt like we got a lot of good looks. We just didn't shoot a high enough percentage to get the win tonight."Danbury missed its first six shots, but played better from there. The Lakers ripped off the next seven points before Calvert responded. Buckets by Kate Coleman, Alyssa Rishty and Carleigh Meier gave the Senecas the lead. A score by Meier put Calvert up 11-9 after one quarter.Coleman got hot from deep in the second quarter. She nailed back-to-back 3s before a 3-pointer by Rishty put the Senecas up 20-14.McDonald's 3 sliced the Calvert lead in half, but Danbury was ice cold from the field in the third quarter. The Lakers missed all seven shots they attempted."I think we lacked execution," Miller said. "I think we got a little stagnant and stopped trying to penetrate. We have to do a better job of trying to gap the zone. Obviously, we didn't shoot the ball particularly well."Coming into game, we were leading the league in 2-point and 3-point percentage, so it was kind of uncharacteristic."Despite playing strong defense, Calvert was only up by 26-24 with 2:37 to go in the third quarter. But, the Senecas finished the quarter strong.Rishty scored and then added a three-point play to make it 31-24. A bucket by Kaleigh Concepcion pushed Calvert's lead to nine points after three quarters.Rishty also scored to open the fourth quarter before Brickner ended the 10:21 field goal drought for Danbury."They average about 60 points a game, so that was huge," Sheets said. "We have the No. 1 scoring offense right now, but they have a great offense. I believe we have the best defense and they have the best fundamental offense. Coming into the game, we wanted to keep them in the 30s or 40s. They push the ball better than anybody.'But, Coleman came right back with a 3-pointer to push the lead back to 38-27 with 6:42 to play.Danbury's last push came with about four minutes to go. Mia McDonald scored before Ella McDonald cut the deficit to 40-33, but a missed free throw allowed Calvert to maintain its lead and put the game away."I told Kate and Kaleigh before the game they needed to step up and have the game of the year," Sheets said. "Kate hit two 3s in the (second) quarter and that was big. They needed to hit some 3s because I figured Danbury would run a box-and-1 and let us shoot 3s. We hit some 3s early and that pulled them out of the defense they wanted to run."Maci Brown led Danbury with nine points while Brickner added eight points. The Lakers outrebounded Calvert, 30-27."I have to be honest. I thought the game would be in the 40s," Miller said. "I didn't think it was going to be a run-and-gun game because both teams are athletic and get back defensively. It's not like there's a lot of runouts and opportunities because people can handle the ball and be able to finish at the rim."Rishty topped Calvert with 16 points, five rebounds, five assists and six steals, while Coleman added 13 points and five boards, Meier had eight points and three blocks and Megan Rombach finished with four points and nine boards."It was two of the top three teams in the league coming in," Sheets said. "We knew it was a big game. They beat us by 37 and like 34 points two years ago. We cut it to 10 and 1 last year. To win here by 10 is an awesome win." Calvert 46, Danbury 36CALVERT (10-1, 7-1): 19-40 FG, 3-5 FT, 5-12 3pt, 27 rebounds (Rombach 9), 12 turnovers.Kaleigh Concepcion 2 0-0 5, Alyssa Rishty 7 1-1 16, Megan Rombach 2 0-2 4, Carleigh Meier 4 0-0 8, Kate Coleman 4 2-2 13. TOTALS 19 3-5 46DANBURY (10-2, 7-1): 13-44 FG, 7-15 FT, 3-14 3pt, 30 rebounds (Brown 8), 11 turnoversThea Brickner 3 1-2 8, Maci Brown 4 0-0 9, Mia McDonald 2 2-4 6, Ella McDonald 2 1-3 6, Katelynne Bergman 1 1-2 3, Lauren Bergman 1 2-4 4. TOTALS 13 7-15 36Calvert 11 11 11 13 - 46Danbury 9 10 5 12 - 36Three-point goals: Calvert 5 (Coleman 3, Concepcion, Rishty); Danbury 3 (Brickner, Brown, E. McDonald)