TMP girls have no trouble with Quinter

2/12/2012

By RANDY GONZALES

rgonzales@dailynews.net

While true high school basketball games are four quarters long, this one was over after the first eight minutes.

The Thomas More Prep-Marian girls' basketball team shut out Quinter in the first quarter in a 57-34 nonleague win Friday night at Al Billinger Fieldhouse.

"I think the first quarter pretty much set the tone for the rest of the game," TMP coach Alan Billinger said. "We didn't miss many shots, and everything seemed to be falling for us tonight."

TMP (13-3) moved the ball around to get easy looks. The Monarchs had an assist on all seven baskets in the first quarter, when TMP took a 16-0 lead.

"That's moving the ball, teamwork and looking for the other person," Billinger said.

Quinter (5-10), meanwhile, missed all nine of its shots in the first quarter.

"We just came out flat, we've had games like that," Quinter coach Katie Blackwill said. "We just came out scared, playing a bigger school."

TMP outscored Quinter 20-12 in the second period to take a commanding, 36-12 halftime lead. Senior forward Jenna Lang and junior point guard Heather Ruder each scored 11 of their game-high 13 points in the first half. The Monarchs shot 54 percent from the floor in the first half and made five 3-pointers.

"You have to hand it to them, they made a lot of shots first half," Blackwill said.

With the big lead, Billinger used his starters sparingly in the second half, playing them four minutes in the third quarter and two minutes in the fourth period.

"We really needed to play them tonight," Billinger said of his starters, wanting to get them minutes before a big game on Tuesday. "But I felt bad about running the score up, because I've been there, and I know what it's like."

With TMP's starters on the bench, Quinter was more competitive in the second half.

The Bulldogs outscored the Monarchs 22-21 after halftime.

"I told (the players) at halftime it's 24 points, let's have the goal of not getting to a running clock, and we never did," Blackwill said. "We came out, played a lot better, finally hit some shots in the second half -- and (TMP) started missing some, finally."

Senior guard Kayla Zerr led Quinter with 11 points.

"I was really impressed with Quinter," Billinger said. "They could have folded up and gone home.

"They played hard, they played with a lot of energy and enthusiasm," he added. "To me, I think Quinter is going to be a nice ball club next year."

After 13 points each from Lang and Ruder, TMP got 11 points from senior forward Rachel Jacobs. Ruder dished out five assists, and senior Rebecca Pray added eight points.

"One thing I was happy about tonight, I thought Rebecca Pray found her shot, she hasn't had it the last three games or so, and Rachel came out, played much more enthused, lot more energy," Billinger said. "In fact, the whole starting five, I think they all played really well tonight."

TMP will be home again Tuesday for a league showdown with Hoisington. TMP has already clinched a share of the MCAA title with Hoisington, but can win it outright with a win on Tuesday. The Monarchs have won eight straight conference titles.