Guards spark Union
CHERRY TWP — Josh Meeker has been waiting for points to come from his backcourt.
He got them Wednesday, and then some.
Senior guards Melissa Shook (17) and Courtney Frederick (16) combined for 33 points as the Union girls basketball team pulled away from host Moniteau for a 62-53 win.
The Damsels and Warriors entered the game in first and second place, respectively, in the KSAC South standings.
Shook and Frederick did most of their damage in the first half, both scoring 13 points even though Moniteau held a slim 35-34 edge at the break.
"We've relied so much on our forwards — Tina Lipps, Brooke Pollock and Lepha Logue — this season," said Meeker. "We've been waiting for our guards to come around and they did tonight."
Union (9-1, 11-4) also received nine points from senior guard Lanae Cicciarelli, who scored a big 2-point basket to put her team up 54-51 with 4:30 left in the game.
After scoring 22 points in the second quarter, the Warriors (5-3, 8-5) cooled off in the second half, holding a 46-43 lead after the third quarter before making just three of 15 field goal attempts in the fourth and getting outscored 19-7 in the period.
<table width="300" height="275" border="0" align="right" valign="top" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><embed src="/assets/mov/BE63375122.MOV" width="320" height="250" autostart="true" loop="false" ></embed></td></tr><tr><td align="center"><a href="http://www.apple.com/quicktime/" target="_blank"><span class="style11">Requires Quicktime Media Player </a><br><font size="1" face="Tahoma, Times New Roman">Video by Brandon Gerthoffer</font></span><td></tr></table>Maura McCaslin led the team with a game-high 23 points."I was satisfied with some of the looks we had in the second half," said Moniteau coach Mark Yeager. "Maura played her guts out tonight. She was the best player on the floor."Meeker's halftime speech was all about defense."I chewed them out," he said. "Giving up 35 points in one half isn't good defense. It wasn't like (Moniteau) was hitting outside shots. We were giving up a lot of layups and free throws."In the second half, we bunched our defense up and made them beat us from the outside," he added.The Damsels struggled from the free throw line, hitting just four of 13 in the first three periods before rebounding with a seven-of-10 showing in the fourth quarter."It's like Jekyll and Hyde," said Meeker of his team's free throw shooting. "There was a game earlier in the season when we shot 80 percent. I don't know what it is."While Union was able to cushion its lead in the league standings for now, Yeager isn't conceding anything yet."They still have to play us again (Jan. 30)," he said. "We're not out of this thing, not by a long shot."<B>UNION 62Lanae Cicciarelli 4 0-0 9, Courtney Frederick 7 0-0 16, Lepha Logue 1 1-8 3, Melissa Shook 5 5-6 17, Tina Lipps 4 1-1 9, Brooke Pollock 2 2-2 6, Ashley Mackinlay 0 1-4 1, Heather Murray 0 1-2 1, Amanda Barger 0 0-0 0, Sarah Beichner 0 0-0 0. </B>Totals: 23 11-23 62.<B>MONITEAU 53Kathleen Harding 1 6-6 8, Chelsea Sellers 3 0-0 6, Chelsea Say 1 0-0 2, Maura McCaslin 7 8-8 23, Jenna McCorry 2 0-2 4, Alex Guercio 3 0-3 6, Jaryn Beatty 1 0-0 2, Brittany Wright 1 0-0 2.</B> Totals: 19 14-19 53.<B>Union 14 20 9 19—62Moniteau 13 22 11 7—533-point goals:</B> Union 5 (Frederick 2, Shook 2, Cicciarelli); Moniteau (McCaslin).<B>JV:</B> Union 36-27<B>Friday:</B> Union at Karns City; Clarion-Limestone at Moniteau
