Gant, Southeast turn up pressure to top Springfield High

With two freshmen and two sophomores in the Southeast girls’ basketball starting lineup, there are bound to be some inconsistencies.

And while that was on display at times on Friday in Willard Duey Gymnasium, the leader of the group — junior Marisa Gant — scored a game-high 27 points to lead the Spartans to a 54-50 Central State Eight Conference win over host Springfield High.

Southeast trailed Springfield High for just 19 seconds in the first quarter but the Senators pulled into an eight-point lead with just under two minutes to play in the half. Gant finished off the period with back-to-back buckets and that four-point, 24-20, halftime deficit didn’t seem too daunting, coach Mike Collins said.

“Me and my assistant was sitting over there and that’s what I wanted to do: was just get (Springfield High’s lead down) to four at halftime,” Collins said. “Once we got it there, we went in (to the locker room) and everyone calms down. I thought we could make a run if we kept it close.”

Gant got the team back in the game with a pull-up jumper six seconds after Emma Scheffler’s pair of free throws gave the Senators a 24-16 lead. Then with 34 seconds left in the half, Gant scored her 10th point on a second-chance opportunity.

“I think we just wanted to take the game and win and we just got locked in at that moment,” Gant said.

Gant scored the first five points of the second half on a pair of jumpers, including a 3-pointer with 5 minutes, 25 seconds left in the third. Ja’Maria Rollen then banked in a 3 of her own and followed that with a layup to cap a 14-0 Southeast run and a 30-24 lead.

Collins played four freshmen on Friday, including starters Zaria Weston and Rollen.

“Every day the freshmen are getting more adjusted, they’re learning more and they’re just getting more confident to come out here and play basketball,” Gant said.

But Gant said sophomore Chloe Crawford has also taken a big leap in her development.

“Last year, she was hesitant and stuff and the first couple of games (this season) but now she’s ready and she’s out here doing what she wasn’t doing last year,” Gant said. “Chloe’s a quiet person and this year she’s showing up, being more vocal and being the person we need her to be.”

Absence hurts Senators’ ballhandling

Springfield High got within two points three times over the final three minutes. Cheresse Mitchell, who was the only senior in the starting lineup for either team, was a relentless rebounder and also finished tied for the team lead with 13 points.

She scored with 3:02 left to cut Southeast’s lead to 46-44. Gant scored the next four points to end a nearly three-minute dry spell for the Spartans as they regained a 50-44 edge.

Scheffler hit a free throw and Keziah Toran connected on a 3 to once again get within two with 1:06 left. But Gant drained a pair of free throws as Southeast reclaimed a four-point lead.

Mitchell had the Senators’ final bucket with :28.4 remaining but Springfield High (4-3 overall, 1-1 CS8) couldn’t get another basket to fall.

The Senators were without starting point guard Zakiyah Lott, who was out because of a concussion. That hurt Springfield High against the frenetic Southeast pressure defense. The Senators turned the ball over 24 times.

“It hurts when we don’t have our point guard,” SHS coach Brad Scheffler said. “We were a little out of sorts. We tried to go through practice: we had a couple of days to do that without (Lott) but it’s tough to get in the game simulation of the pressure Southeast puts on you.”

But Springfield High nearly erased that disadvantage with 23 second-chance opportunities. Mitchell had 15 rebounds, including 10 on the offensive end. The Senators had 23 offensive rebounds overall.

Springfield High sophomore Megan McMullan tied Mitchell with 13 points.

Contact Ryan Mahan: 788-1546, ryan.mahan@sj-r.com, Twitter.com/RyanMahanSJR.

This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: Southeast gets 27 from Gant, uses pestering defense to top Springfield High