John Glenn soph takes Zanesville girls to 'Church'

NEW CONCORD — With its top player on the bench, Zanesville was swimming upriver from the opening tip on Monday night.

A bout of sickness kept leading scorer and No. 1 ball-handler Jersey Draughn in street clothes against deep and talented John Glenn, and the result showed on the scoreboard.

The balanced Muskies used a lethal transition game to get easy baskets and led by as many as 26 points in the second half of a 68-49 win in a nonleague clash at Winland Memorial Gymnasium.

John Glenn (10-4) shot 52 percent from the field, including five 3-pointers, and forced 17 turnovers in building leads of 20-11 after a quarter, 37-22 at halftime and 43-22 early in the third after a 12-0 run.

Sixteen of the Muskies' points came off fast breaks, the result of running to the block for layups against a lagging Zanesville defense that struggled to recover.

"We struggle a lot defensively, which is why we have to do so many different things," Zanesville coach Jeff Moore said. "One of our Achilles heels is we don't sit down and play disciplined for a long time (in man-to-man) and that has hurt all year."

John Glenn struggled out of the gates with four turnovers in its first six possessions, but Zanesville was able to build only a 4-3 lead that proved to be its last of the game as Church, a 6-foot sophomore, scored nine points in the next four minutes.

Zanesville (5-7) got within 17-11 on a Jada Seyfried 3-pointer with 1:17 left in the quarter, but junior Kylah Morgan hit the first of her two first-half 3-pointers to extend the lead.

Zanesville got back within 29-20 after junior guard Kandrea Sowers, who scored a team-high 20 points, and classmate Kylie Osborne scored on consecutive possessions with 3:50 left until half.

But a putback from McKinzi Linscott, coupled with two missed Zanesville free throws, led to the game's biggest stretch — a 6-0 run to end the half, and a 6-0 run to start the third quarter.

The Muskies forced turnovers on four straight possessions, kept one possession alive with two offensive rebounds and scored twice in succession on transition layups.

When the dust settled, the Muskies held a 58-35 lead entering the fourth quarter as the Lady Devils had a stretch with one field goal and two points in a span of almost six minutes.

John Glenn, with two 6-foot starters in Church and Linscott, in addition to 5-8 lefty guard Mya Oliver, finished the game with 38 points in the paint in hitting 26 of 50 from the field.

"I'm happy, but we have to keep it in perspective with Jersey not playing," Sigman said. "We got out and ran and got some easy points, but Jersey Draughn is a heck of a player. That's 20-25 points per game that's not in their lineup. That game is a lot closer if she's playing.

"Jeff (Moore) knows what he is going," Sigman said. "He is one of the best in the area and he makes it tough on you. It's the first time we've gotten them, but there's an asterisk."

Sigman praised the efforts of Linscott and Oliver for their play on both ends, and he particularly credited Oliver for her floor play with the lead.

It's one of the areas that she has improved, Sigman said.

"She's really maturing right before our eyes," Sigman said.

The game served as a prelude to a critical Wednesday matchup at Tri-Valley, which sits atop the Muskingum Valley League-Big School Division with Sheridan and still holds a two-game lead as the second half of the league season begins.

”It's Tri-Valley. I don’t want to make anyone mad, but I think (Tri-Valley coach) Kurt Kaufman is the best coach in our league," Sigman said. "He just does a fabulous job with what he has got and they're hard to play against. I haven't beaten Tri-Valley since I've been here, so this is a big one for us."

Linscott and Oliver scored 14 points, with each scoring in each quarter. They combined for 9-of-12 shooting at the line, as Zanesville committed seven fouls in the first quarter and fought foul trouble with Osborne, McCuen and Sowers — three key starters — throughout.

Moore said John Glenn "was hungrier and played harder than us," and didn't use Draughn's absence as an excuse. He said that she wanted to play, despite missing Sunday's team shoot-a-round, but he elected to sit her in an effort to have her full strength for Wednesday's game against Licking County League foe Licking Valley.

He feels bad that he hasn't been able to get her more rest in games.

"It's tough without Jersey, but that is not an excuse," Moore said. "We still have to be able to come together and find a way to overcome that."

Zanesville was 20-of-52 from the field (38 percent), including 4-of-13 on 3s, and hit only 5 of 14 free throws — six misses came in the second half. Seyfried had seven of her 11 points in the first half and McCuen seven in the first three quarters, as seven Lady Devils scored.

"We're this far into the season and we still haven't put 32 minutes together yet," Moore added. "We're waiting to see that. But credit to John Glenn, Coach Sigman does a good job and has a really good team over there.”

sblackbu@gannett.com; Twitter: @SamBlackburnTR

This article originally appeared on Zanesville Times Recorder: John Glenn sophomore takes Zanesville girls basketball to 'Church'