Mac girls hot start leads to big league win
Rylie McManus hit two of her four three-pointers during an early 12-1 run Friday night and the Grizzly girls held on to beat Century (14-3, 4-1), 69-61, and earn sole possession of first place in the Pacific Conference with a 5-0 record (12-5 overall).
Mac extended its lead to 24-10 by the end of the first, pushing the tempo off missed Century shots and consistently breaking the Jaguars’ trapping press for easy transition buckets. Macie Arzner had four of her five assists in the first quarter, sending a slew of one-handed bullet passes up-court to teammates that led to transition buckets.
“Every day we go through press break, so the girls are pretty comfortable with that,” head coach Sean Coste said.
Mac was up 39-25 at the half. In the third, Century’s barrage of three-point shots started to fall, and the visiting team cut the lead to 43-39 half-way through the quarter.
Along with plenty of long shots, Century’s offense is centered around its lengthy 6-foot-5 center Kiara Green, who scored 11 points. Coste noted the important execution on the defensive by post Ruby Riddle to keep Green away from the hoop.
“Ruby did a great job,” Coste said. “(Green) had two inside shots in the second half, the rest were outside going away from the basket, falling away. That was definitely the game plan.”
Green caused some havoc on the defensive end herself, particularly disrupting Arzner’s attempts around the basket.
“I think their size definitely caused some issues around the basket,” Coste said.
Even through an off-night shooting-wise for Arzner (7-of-24), she still posted 27 points, going 11-of-12 from the free throw line. Mac was 15-of-16 overall from the line.
Century’s press caused Grizzly turnovers in the second half and they cut the Grizzly lead to four several times. But Mac would never allow them closer to that, and Arzner sealed the game at the line down the stretch.
“As they made their climb to get back into the game, we had some breakdowns on defense, but we never gave up enough that allowed them to takeover … we didn’t panic when they started to make some tough shots,” Coste said, also noting a 46-31 Grizzly rebounding edge, despite the height of Century. Arzner finished with 15 rebounds, and Taylor Terry grabbed seven boards off the bench to go with five points.
McManus finished the game with 18 points on 6-of-13 shooting, hitting 4-of-9 from behind the arch.
“I think her confidence in shooting is starting to steadily increase,” Coste said. “She’s also making more plays offensively in attacking the basket. Her aggressiveness definitely helps this team.”
Brooklyn Summers chipped in with 10 points and six rebounds, including several offensive putbacks. Lydia Angevine rounded out Mac’s scoring with a first-quarter three-pointer.
The Grizzlies are back in action Tuesday night at home when the face Liberty (9-8, 1-4), which will mark the end of the first-half of Pacific Conference play. Tip-off is 5:45.
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