CUMBERLAND – York’s up-tempo offense works best when played at a full-tilt pace.
Friday night, it took Greely’s breath away.
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Ruby Cribby and Shannon Todd combined for 10 points in a 12-0 first-half run Friday night to lead York to a 62-39 girls’ basketball victory over Greely.
Freshman guard Shannon Todd scored 19 points, senior center Emily Campbell had 16 points and 11 rebounds, and Cribby finished with 10 points and six rebounds as the Wildcats (11-1) swept the season series. They beat the Rangers 39-34 on Dec. 10.
“I’ve been coming up here a long time,” said Rick Clark, in his 31st season as York’s coach, “and I do not remember playing that well for 32 minutes and having that margin of victory.”
York’s secret?
“We have good balance,” Clark said. “It’s the team concept. If the girls believe in it, play it full tilt, with confidence, we play pretty well.”
York’s frantic defense, led by guards Todd and Anne Graziano, seemed to rattle Greely early.
Meanwhile, three of York’s first four field goals were 3-pointers, which helped the Wildcats build an 11-7 lead. Greely clawed back in, with Ashley Storey (14 points, eight rebounds) hitting from the high post and the baseline to tie it at 11 with 40 seconds left in the first quarter.
“When we’re playing well, we’re able to forget the score,” Clark said, “and concentrate on what we’re supposed to do.”
With 33.5 seconds left in the first, Cribby banked a shot off the glass with her back to the basket, was fouled and hit the foul shot for a three-point play.
Moments later, Todd drove to the hoop for another basket and the quarter ended with York ahead, 16-11.
“We knew we had to keep the lead,” Campbell said. “Greely’s a good team. We just kept driving the whole first half.”
Did they ever. In the opening 1:14 of the second, Campbell drove for a basket and had a nice pass sequence to set up Todd’s second 3-pointer, and Cribby finished off a steal with a baseline drive for a 23-11 lead.
“We were hitting constantly,” Cribby said. “We communicated well, had good pressure on the ball and executed flawlessly.
“This is definitely an exciting boost in confidence.”
Jordynn Copp (nine points) scored seven of Greely’s nine second-quarter points, but the Wildcats pushed the lead to 36-20 at the half. Then York opened the third quarter with a 10-0 run.
“It basically came down to what style we were playing,” Campbell said. “We like to run and put it up, and that worked to our favor tonight.”
“We had a good night,” said Clark, whose team made seven 3-pointers. “We shot well from outside, and being able to do that gave us more inside after the fact. We played the normal defense we play, which went well and kind of took them out of their game a little bit.”
Greely Coach Joel Rogers agreed.
“York was by far the better team tonight,” Rogers said. “We have some kinks in our offense I’ve got to work out. I thought I had the girls understanding what they needed to do but they didn’t, and that’s on me. And we’ll fix it.”
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