Sigourney girls power past Pekin

SIGOURNEY – All of the momentum changed on one bounce of the ball. 

Late in the first quarter the Pekin girls were dribbling down the court somewhat lazily. Watching the ball bounce off the floor, Sigourney freshman Brynn Clarahan saw her chance. 

She sprung at the ball and was able to swipe the ball away for the steal. Once she gained control of the ball there was no stopping her. Clarahan used the steal for an easy layup to give the Savages an uncontested two point shot. 

That was the spark that the Savages needed to wake up from their early game slump in a Jan. 11 game against Pekin. 

“The girls respond so well when I yell at them,” said Sigourney head girls coach, Kaylee Weber after a 63-42 victory on Saturday. “At halftime I asked the girls what they need to do to respond to me and they said they need to be yelled at, so that’s what I did.”

The yelling seemed to work, even before halftime. 

Clarahan’s shot at the end of the first quarter tied the game up at 11, but that was the last time the game would be close. 

After a bit of yelling inbetween the quarters, mostly about boxing out the taller Panther players, the Savages started to play better. 

Defensively the Savages weren’t ready to let  the Panthers get the same court presence they had experienced in the first half. 

What had been an almost wide open floor in the first half was turned into clogged passing lanes and a hands-in-the-face defensive pressure throughout the second quarter. 

“In the first quarter we seemed to be just waking up for the day, by the second quarter you could tell that they were awake,” Weber said. “The steals really helped power our offense. The steals get us into rhythm. We can run the fast break, we just get everything moving faster. When we’re able to string together five, six steals in a row like that then everything just becomes so much easier.”

That’s what happened throughout the second quarter as the offense and defense of Sigourney seemed to work completely. Once the lead started to lean in favor of the Savages, it seemed there was little Pekin could do to change the momentum. 

The Savages were able to limit the shots of Pekin throughout the second quarter. What had been a tied game after the first eight minutes turned into a lopsided 30-17 lead by Sigourney at halftime. 

Coming out of halftime the Savages continued to keep their offensive firepower going in their direction. 

Early on in the third quarter the steals and overall firepower by the Savages continued to tilt the lead in their favor. The two main scorers for the Savages were Clarahan and Josephine Moore, both of whom continually shot the ball well throughout the quarter. The 20 point lead for Sigourney nearly reached 30 points early in the fourth quarter, but Pekin still had fight left in them.

The Panthers were able to shoot their way out of the large deficit they had late in the game. Threes from players like Renae Eubanks and Maddy Petrehn helped make the score look a little less lopsided, but it was a case of too little, too late for the Panthers. 

Overall the Savages were able to gain a 21-point victory, their second-straight win after they beat BGM 71-55 on Jan. 10. 

“We need to box out a lot better and limit turnovers are two of the things that we need to work on,” Weber said. “Those things are a little easier said than done, but we are working on it, and that’s what we can work on for the rest of the month.”

Eubanks led the Panthers with 12 points. Abby Guise had nine points. Anna Hadley had seven points and 12 rebounds. Maddy Petrehn finished with nine points as well. 

Paislee Coleman finished with three points and Exra Parsons added two points. 

Sigourney was led by Clarahan with 26 points. Moore finished with 17 points. Bailee Gretter had eight points while Ava Fisch added five points. Addy Fineran finished with three points. Both McKinley Chittick and Adalynne Tremmel finished with two points each. 

The Savages are now 7-4 on the season. Pekin moves to 5-6 overall.   

Photos by Mark Schafer