Shooting Woes Haunt Girls' Team In Loss
23 Nov 2007

The Manchester Lady Squires took 66 shots and pulled down 26 offensive rebounds against Mississinewa Friday night.
Normally, those types of stats would mean a victory, but for Manchester, it just meant a dismal night of shooting.
Mississinewa, who had been shooting 25 percent from the field in their previous two games, shot 50 percent, while the Lady Squires struggled to find the hoop, shooting 23 percent (15-66) in a 37-33 Lady Indian win.
“It seems that one time a year, every team has a game where it’s like they can’t even throw it in into the ocean from a row boat,” Manchester coach Mark Underwood said after the game. “That was the case for us tonight. We’re going to continue to shoot in practice, and we’ll try to make those shots game-like, and hopefully, the next time we come out, we’ll be able to get a few more of them to drop.”
It looked like Manchester was going to run away with the game, taking a 5-0 lead in the first quarter, while Mississinewa committed five turnovers on their first five possessions.
Kyla Zile and Jessica Bedke both scored inside, and Julie Seifert hit 1-2 from the line, but Mississinewa went on a 10-0 run over the next five minutes to take a 10-5 lead, until Katie Bowers hit a three pointer to cut the lead to two.
Seifert kept things close, scoring the Lady Squires final six points of the half, but the Lady Indians took an 18-16 lead into the locker room.
Manchester’s shooting woes really showed in the third quarter, going 1-12, as Bedke scored Manchester’s only basket, on an offensive rebound put back.
Mississinewa led 29-19 early in the fourth quarter, but then the tide shifted, but only for 2:10.
Manchester rallied to tie things up at 29-29 with a 10-0 run.
Audrey Johnson grabbed a defensive rebound, brought the ball up the floor, and found Bowers for a jumper.
Johnson hit a jumper, followed by an offensive rebound put back from Seifert. Bedke stole the ball and got an assist on a Bowers lay up, and Kyla Zile hit Bowers for a bucket with 4:16 left in the game, and all of a sudden, Manchester was back in the game.
Mississinewa regained the lead on two free throws, but Zile scored on a pick and roll with Bowers to make it 31-31 with 2:15 left in the game.
Mississinewa scored with 1:37 left to take the lead 33-31.
The Lady Squires next possession was a microcosm of their entire game, missing four shots, but grabbing three offensive rebounds, only to come up empty.
Mississinewa took a 35-31 lead with 56 seconds left, but Seifert scored on an inbounds play with 23.4 seconds left to cut the lead to two.
The Lady Indians made it a four point game with two free throws with 19.6 seconds left, however, to secure the win.
“We have a very young team, a very inexperienced team,” Underwood said. “We have to be patient and keep building on the positives, and eliminate the negatives.
“We have some tough games coming up, and we might have to fine tune things a little bit, and not hurry the shot as much,” he continued. “But I still love our attitudes, and our work ethic. The girls never gave up.”
Seifert led the Lady Squires with 11 points, seven rebounds, and three assists, while Bowers had nine points, five steals, four assists, and one rebound. Zile had five points, eight rebounds, and eight steals, Bedke had four points, five rebounds, and two steals, Denae Pyle had two points and one assist, Johnson had two points and six rebounds, Noelle Patrick and Brittany Sievers had two rebounds each, and Becka Guthrie had two steals and one assist.
The Lady Squires will host Winamac on Tuesday at 7:45 p.m. (6:15 JV start) and Oak Hill on Saturday at 6:00 p.m. as part of a double header with the boys’ team. JV starts at 3:00 p.m.