While the outside shooting was inconsistent for Lone Tree on Tuesday, the Lady Lions were steady on the defensive end and boards in a 41-24 win at Hillcrest.
Lone Tree pressured the Raven ball handlers and disrupted the passing lanes, forcing 30 turnovers in the victory.
“That's what I like best about this team,” Lone Tree coach Ryan Shelman said. “We're scrappy, we move, we have long arms. “We actually teach to get tips and that's what leads to our steals.”
Trailing 9-7 early in the second quarter, Lone Tree scored 15 of its next 16 points from the 3-point line.
Vivan Zaruba hit back-to-back 3-point shots, which gave Lone Tree the lead for good at 13-12. Finely Jacque, Avery Lisk and Riley Krueger each connected from beyond the arc as Lone Tree built a 27-16 halftime lead.
Lone Tree trailed 6-2 with a minute left in the first quarter before exploding for 25 points over the next nine minutes.
“We were moving the ball pretty well against their zone,” Shelman said. “I thought our girls did a good job of swinging the ball against their defense, getting interior touches when we could. We had open jump shots. We just weren't hitting them quite the first quarter. But then in that second quarter, we just really started to go off.”
Zaruba and Jacque each scored eight points, while Lisk finished with seven.
Freshman Alyson Ford came off of the bench to lead Lone Tree with nine. She ended a three and a half minute scoring drought in the first quarter and scored twice on putbacks.
“She's played some big minutes for us,” Shelman “She's done a really nice job defensively and offensively.”
Malia Yoder made back-to-back shots to pull the Ravens within a point at 17-16 in the second quarter. But the Lady Lions allowed just eight points on three field goals the rest of the way.
“I thought Vivian Zaruba really did a good job of getting her fingers on the ball, and that led to some steals,” Shelman said. “I thought Riley Krueger, Avery Lisk, Finley Jacque were just in really good positions. And then our post players did a nice job to kind of keep the ball out of the interior.”
Riley Shield scored as the second quarter wound down and scored again in the closing seconds of the third to stretch the lead to 35-20.
The first 28 points of the game were scored by freshmen and sophomores before Lone Tree senior Riley Krueger scored four straight points in the second quarter.
All of the Ravens’ points came from freshmen and sophomores, led by Yoder’s 13 points.
Freshman Claire Withrow hit a 3-pointer to put the Ravens on top 9-4 in the first and her second from long range gave Hillcrest a 12-10 lead. She finished with eight points and Lydia Beachy added three.
“We were doing a good job of taking care of the ball,” Hillcrest coach Mitchell Drey said about the first quarter. “We've got shooters, and throughout the season we've seen it. But when we don't take care of the ball, we don't get the opportunity to shoot and we can't really show that.
“In the first half, we did a great job. Good passes, strong with the ball, making movements with intention. We kind of lost that towards the end of the game. I think we got a little tired, but credit Lone Tree, they forced us into playing their style of game in that second half.”
