Spencerville- After finishing the regular season at 14-8 the Spencerville Bearcats will hit the tournament trail on Thursday night but it will be at a familiar site as they visit MAC foe Parkway.
“Parkway is a great team that is coached very well,” said Spencerville head coach Greg Ekis. “Dan has done a great job building the program into one of the best in the MAC year in and year out. It is always interesting playing a team a second time. It is a challenge to see what the other team will change. I think we have learned a lot from the first game and will need to make some changes so that we can hopefully have more success.”
The Panthers defeated the Bearcats back on January 10th 45-34. However both coaches expressed just what happened on that matchup.
“In our first game with Spencerville, they jumped out early on us and we had to scrap and claw to get the game tied by halftime,” said Parkway head coach Dan Williamson. “In the second half, we did a better job of controlling the paint and making them take contested 3s. As the game went on, we made more shots and had fewer turnovers which were two big keys for us being able to get the win.”
One of the things that the Bearcats will have to do on Thursday night is contain Megan Hughes. The Senior averages 13.2 ppg and 8.3 rebounds per game. Hughes collected 17 points and had 12 rebounds in the win against the Bearcats last month.
The Panthers finished the season at 18-4 and pulled some of some impressive wins and it included over MAC champion St. Henry.
For Parkway they have eluded all their success to playing team basketball.
“The success of our team this season and the closeness of the girls is directly correlated,” said Williamson. “We have two sets of sisters as well as cousins on the team so that closeness has been positive for us this season. Our girls truly like each other and enjoy playing with each other. They don’t care who scores the most points or gets the “glory”, they just want to win. They get along really well both on and off the court.”
The Spencerville Bearcats last played back on February 10th and it was a 43-29 setback against Kalida. However the time off has given the Bearcats a chance to practice and it’s something that Ekis has looked forward to.
“It has been great to practice this week,” commented Ekis. “We have been able to prepare, and the players have been very focused. During the regular season it is hard to prepare sometimes because playing almost every other day.”
Last February it was the Bearcats that made the bus drive to Rockford and stunned these Panthers a year ago and both coaches talked about what this game means to both programs.
“We are definitely talking about the revenge factor because Spencerville beat us last year in tournament,” said Williamson. “We hope to come in very focused on what we need to do to win. We also understand that since we beat them earlier in the season, they will also be looking for some revenge. We know it’s going to be a physical game but our girls will be ready to play.”
“I do not think we have a different mindset from last year to this year,” said Ekis. “It is the tournament and if you lose your season is done. We have an enjoyable group of players that don’t want the season to end.”
Both coaches gave keys to the win on Thursday night.
“The biggest things we feel that we need to do to win are: Control the paint,” concluded Williamson. “We have to keep the ball out of the paint and limit their offensive rebounds. Make them shoot contested shots and make open shots when we get them.”
“Keys to victory are very simple in my mind two on offense and two on defense,” concluded Ekis. On defense,
- keep them in front of us
- Block out
On Offense
- Handle their pressure on defense
- Hit some outside shots.
If you can’t make it to the game tune in to Zsports 3 as Nate Stidham and Shane Falke will have all the action with the pregame show set for 5:45 followed by tip-off at 6pm.
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