Lady Lex turns defense into offense in OCC win over Madison Rams

LEXINGTON — In a low-scoring matchup plagued by turnovers, Lady Lex defeated Madison to add their second victory on their new court.

In a game where points were hard to come by, the up-tempo defense allowed Lexington to keep pace on their way to their 38-20 win.

While the scoreboard may not have reflected it, the Rams came out of the tip hot, pushing the ball up the floor in transition trying to beat a taller Lexington defense down the floor. Unfortunately, while playing at break-neck speed, Madison fell victim to self-inflicted errors and turned the ball over nine times in the first quarter alone.

“We never really got into any rhythm offensively. [Lexington] played very intense basketball and you have to give them credit for that,” said Madison coach Mike Leeper.

This lack of rhythm hurt the Rams as they struggled to put just six points on the board in the opening quarter. Luckily, they were able to hold Lexington to just eight with a high-pressure defensive effort. Junior guard Cora Palmer, however, handled Madison’s pressure well, knocking in seven of Lexington’s first-quarter points and controlling the tempo for her team.

“[Cora] held us in it. Sometimes things get out of control and really the whole team may get out of control, but they play very hard and they are great kids,” said Lexington coach Daryl Udhe.

Heading into the second quarter, Lady Lex looked to take advantage of Madison’s sloppy ball handling, implementing a zone press. This paid dividends immediately as Lexington forced six more turnovers.

Senior point guard Maddie Basilone took full advantage of the stolen opportunities, working her way into the paint for easy layups and finding her way to the free throw line to push Lexington to an eight-point run in the quarter. When she was unable to finish herself, Basilone took advantage of Lexington’s height advantage, dumping it off to senior forward Kaitlyn Delano-Goodman to finish off the possession with a bucket inside.

Coach Udhe emphasized the importance of getting his post players involved to find success in the paint saying, “what we were missing was we needed to be able to get the ball inside and score from the inside. We have two girls over six feet and we need to keep getting them involved.”

While the Rams struggled to get their offense started, they also struggled shooting the long ball. The newly implemented zone defense from Lexington quickly closed up passing and penetrating lanes inside for Madison, forcing them to look beyond the arc for shot opportunities. However, they failed to connect on any of their six tries from deep and fell behind 18-10 at the half.

“We were kind of hopping back between zone and man defense. Our zone was definitely working for us tonight,” said Basilone. “It helped us close in on the post since they did not have any real outside shooters.”

Coming out of the halftime break, the Rams quickly cleaned up their up-tempo pace and worked much more methodically on the offensive end. Instead of forcing contested shots, Madison worked the ball around the perimeter until they were able to force the ball inside to their post players.

Forwards Chloe Ebeling and Brianna Bowles were able to size up Lexington’s bigs and draw fouls to get to the free-throw line. A combined seven points from the free throw line in the quarter helped close the gap and keep the Rams close.

Unfortunately, Madison was unsuccessful in the post when it came to rebounding the basketball. With Madison and Lexington shooting just 12 percent and 28 percent from the field, respectively, the opportunity for second-chance points was ripe. Lady Lex capitalized on 14 second-chance opportunities and out-rebounded Madison 47 to 33 on the night.

Even with this working against the Rams, their methodical attack in the third quarter was able to cut Lexington’s lead to just eight points with a little under two minutes left in the quarter. However, Cora took control of the situation again, knocking down a big three-pointer to extend the lead to 29-18.

“It seems like anytime we get it cut down and we have an opportunity, we miss it and we never recover from it,” said Leeper. “We have to be a little mentally tougher and get through some of our areas where we just aren’t playing well - and get into some momentum.”

With Madison’s offense all but stalling out, the eleven-point lead may have been comfortable enough to coast to the final buzzer. However, Basilone was not satisfied. Carrying her team to an 18-3 run to close out the matchup, Basilone worked every part of the court for points. She first connected on a nifty step-back mid-range jump shot that banked in. Then followed up with two foul shots, an and-one layup, and finally a steal and score in transition to close out her team-leading 17 points and a 38-20 win.

While Basilone noted her outside jump shot and ability to drive, she praised her teammate’s passing abilities to find her for open-shot opportunities.

With the victory, Lexington improves to 2-4 and collects their first Ohio Cardinal Conference victory. Palmer scored 10 and contributed two assists. Delano-Goodman also contributed six points and seven rebounds. Basilone, along with her 17, also had a notable night collecting eight rebounds and dishing off three assists.

Udhe emphasized how pleased he was with his team’s progress and effort so far, marking this as a game to build upon for his squad going forward.

“To build off of this we almost need it badly. This league is so good with so many teams that are really [talented]. When you get a win you have to be happy no matter what… I have nothing but great things to say about their effort.”

The Rams are still in search of their first win and will take on Ashland Saturday. Chloe Ebeling and Natalee Back posted a team-high seven points. Ebeling also snatched 10 rebounds in an impressive showing on the glass.

This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: Lexington Lady Lex beats Madison Rams in Ohio Cardinal Conference girls basketball