Defense helps chilly Seneca outlast Marquette in TCC girls showdown

OTTAWA – When shots aren’t falling, play defense even harder until they do.

The Seneca Fighting Irish started out shooting an icy 2 for 17 from the field, but forced Marquette into 10 turnovers in the opening quarter to stay even before bigger shots started to drop, leading Seneca to a dogfight of a 42-36 victory over the Crusaders on Thursday at Bader Gym.

Alyssa Zellers overcame some first-half foul trouble to post 13 points – eight of those down the stretch in the fourth quarter – but it was as much her defense and that of backup Lauren Barla on MA standout Kaitlyn Davis that led the Irish to their 6-1 overall mark, 3-0 in the Tri-County Conference.

Together, Zellers and Barla held the high-scoring Davis without a single field goal in 16 shot attempts, her four points all coming from the free-throw line.

Hunter Hopkins took game scoring honors for Marquette (5-2, 2-1) with 15 points, eight in the final quarter and four straight to pull the hosts to within 38-36 with 1 minute, 29 seconds left to be played. But that’s when a single toss by Lainie Olson and three more from Zellers – the latter’s in the final 27.1 seconds – iced the win.

“I felt our defense was solid, and that probably kept us in the game, because we struggled shooting a bit,” said Seneca coach Josh Myers, his club just 23.1% (12 of 52) from the field. “I thought we were getting great shots. We might have rushed them a bit, but I’ll take Lainie, I’ll take Alyssa, I’ll take Evelyn shooting those 3s any time.

“Hopkins and Davis are good players, but Evelyn (O’Connor) did a good job on her, and Alyssa and Barla came in and did a really good job on Davis, and Tessa did a good job in the post down the stretch. … Our bench did a really good job late.”

The Irish set the pace high throughout, faster than Marquette wanted it initially, and it showed in the Cru’s turnover total, 24 for the game. Consecutive buckets by Audry McNabb (23-16) and back-to-back hoops by Tess Krull (29-22) created seven-point leads for Seneca at each end of the third quarter.

But then Hopkins shined, hitting a baseline drive and a running scoop shot that cut the home deficit to one at 29-28. She later hit a pair of free throws twice around a steal to draw the Cru within 38-36.

However, Olson sank a toss at 1:11, and after an MA turnover Zellers canned her three clutch shots to close out the win.

For the game, the Irish connected on just 13 of 24 from the stripe, but it was enough, thanks in part to a 44-31 edge on the glass. Krull led the latter stat with 11 boards, while Morgan Nelson snared seven rebounds for the Cru.

“The first half was frantic, neither team playing very well, but we were sped up, and we were sped up all night,” Marquette coach Eric Price said. “Our body language was like we were down more than we were, because we weren’t playing well and Seneca was playing good defense. They make it hard to get in the lane, and it wears you out a bit. …

“In the second half we started attacking the rim a little bit, kind of what we wanted to do the whole game, but for whatever reason, we just couldn’t get going. Everytime we fought back, they’d hit a shot or we’d foul somebody, and they’d hit a free throw. We just couldn’t ahead. …

“I felt we did a good job defensively tonight, but offensively, we’re gonna have to play a lot better than that to win.”

On Saturday, Seneca will travel to Ottawa for a 1 p.m. game, while Marquette will take on Polo at 4 p.m. at the Amboy Shootout.