Blue Devil girls put on defensive clinic to beat Ship

by Ed Gotwals on 2/22/21

 

The Blue Devils put on a show defensively to hand the Greyhounds only their second defeat of the season in a Mid Penn Colonial clash at Greencastle on Monday night.

 

Sayge Wilhide

 

After a slow first quarter (ahead 5-3), the Blue Devils outscored Shippensburg 17-2 in the second and led 39-9 by the end of three periods. The Lady Hounds had come in averaging 50 points per game.

 

“Tonight it was all about executing our defensive game plan and playing with energy and passion,” G-A coach Mike Rhine said. “Each and every girl did that on every possession. The way they communicated and played as one unit was a beautiful thing to watch.  I couldn’t be prouder of and for our girls. They wanted this one tonight and sold out to the team concept to get it.”

 

Greencastle’s man-to-man defense and strong rebounding stymied Ship and turned around an earlier 42-38 loss to the Greyhounds.

 

Rhine said, “We felt like we knew Shippensburg very well, and we could see what was coming. We had a good game plan and the girls gained confidence as the game went on because Ship was having trouble even getting shots. They came in as the No. 1 team in the district (in Class 5A) and they had already beaten us, so it was important for our confidence to get off to a fast start.”

 

Rhine pointed to one play in the second quarter that showed what kind of game it might be.

 

Haley Noblit deflected a pass near midcourt and saved it from going out of bounds by flinging the ball toward one of G-A’s offensive corners. A pair of Ship girls appeared to be in position to get to the ball first, but Mia Libby sprinted past them, controlled the ball and flipped a pass to Sayge Wilhide, who then stroked in a killing 3-pointer.

 

“Everyone believed we could win after that play,” Rhine said.

 

Wilhide scored 15 points and added 3 assists and 2 steals, while Libby totaled 13 points, 8 rebounds and 5 assists. Noblit kicked in 7 points, 2 assists and 3 steals, Lauren Pool had 6 points and 6 boards and Jenna Powell had 5 points and 7 rebounds.

 

Elke Staver paced Shippensburg with 7 points.

 

The Lady Hounds (13-2, 10-1 MPC) still hold a lead over Big Spring (12-2, 9-2 MPC) and Greencastle (11-3, 9-3 MPC) in the Colonial Division.

 

Former Blue Devil boys coach Garon Gembe said to G-A girls assistant coach Scott McKeever after the game, “That was the best team defense I’ve ever seen played in our gym.  The communication was excellent and considering they did it wearing masks is even more