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The distance between the two end lines on a basketball court at the Arena is 94 feet.
That’s exactly how far La Salle head coach Todd Kent’s girls pressure the opposing offense, but that 94 feet starts to seem much longer if the offense can’t break through easily.
The Lightning forced 23 turnovers on defense, and sophomore forward Jasmine Stohr had 18 points and 10 rebounds as La Salle routed Curlew 54-38 in Saturday night’s girls State B championship game.
“It’s just amazing to have worked so hard all season and come through,” Lightning junior guard Theresa Anderton said. “And that’s what we were here to do.”
“The opportunity to coach such great kids and work in such a great place like La Salle, I can’t even describe it in words,” Kent added.
The first half was scrappy, to say the least, as Curlew (25-4) tried to break La Salle’s suffocating full-court pressure while La Salle (25-2) just tried to get an open shot over Curlew’s zone.
Both teams swiped plenty of bad passes and got into the fast break, but hitting a layup was easier said than done.
In fact, the teams combined for 13 points in the first quarter and just two on free throws in the second until Anderton hit an open 3-pointer off an inbound pass to give the Lightning an 11-7 lead with 3:29 remaining.
La Salle’s offense started rolling after Anderton’s shot. Stohr scored six points in the final 2 minutes and the Lightning scored the final six points of the first half.
Stohr hit a pair of free throws, and Molly McGree hit a pull-up jumper in the lane with the shot clock winding down and found Monica Schneider on the right side for a bank shot at the second-quarter buzzer to give La Salle a 21-12 halftime lead.
“At that point, we knew that we had them worn down,” Kent said. “I told the girls that they just need to maintain … and they will break.”
The Lightning held serve throughout the third quarter, building the lead to 12 early when Anderton scored on a steal and breakaway layup.
“Our defense gets our offense going, because that’s what our main focus is,” Anderton said. “That gets our momentum going, and that’s what gets our offense going.”
The Cougars clawed back and cut the lead to seven when Nichole Miller converted a three-point play with 14.2 seconds left, but Stohr answered with a 3-pointer on the right win with 3 seconds remaining to give the Lightning a 35-25 lead.
Just as La Salle has done throughout the tournament, it took care of business in the fourth quarter. As Curlew’s seven-player rotation grew weary from trying to break through the defense, La Salle took advantage of any Curlew mistakes and broke the game wide open.
“They had so pressure on our perimeter and our wings that we had a hard time setting up and getting into our offense,” Curlew head coach Dan Miller said. “They played tough, tough defense, and it took us out of our flow.”
Stohr hit a pair of free throws and McGree scored inside to increase the lead to 14. After exchanging baskets with the Cougars, the Lightning went ahead 47-30 on a McGree 3-pointer from the right wing with 3:29 left.
From there, benches started to empty as players earned their last floor time of the season. McGree put the Lightning ahead 20 with a pair of free throws with 49.8 seconds left before leaving to a standing ovation from the Lightning fans.