It wasn’t quite the kitchen sink approach, but Polk County still gave Mitchell a handful of different defensive looks Tuesday night.
Nearly all of them worked.
The Wolverines took control of the game midway through the first quarter, built a double-digit lead at the half and were never challenged thereafter, taking a 57-43 win in Western Highlands Conference action at Polk.
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Polk County (8-9, 3-4) switched defenses repeatedly throughout the first half, tossing a variety of zones at Mitchell (8-11, 2-5) as well as man-to-man pressure. The man worked well, and the Wolverines played it heavily in the final two quarters.
Trailing 28-16 at halftime, Mitchell opened the third period with a quick 3-pointer. But Polk County scored 12 of the next 14 points, building a 40-21 lead late in the quarter. Mitchell got no closer than 12 points the rest of the way.
“That’s something we’ve been working on, changing our defensive looks,” said Polk County head coach Brandy Alm. “We create a lot of offense from our defense. We’ve got a lot of quick athletes, so we’ve put a lot of different defenses in for that reason
“Finally, the man-to-man was working, so we stuck with that.”
Senior Hayley Kropp scored 25 points, grabbed 15 rebounds and had five steals and sophomore Autumn Owen added 14 points, but it was the play of the Wolverines’ two freshmen that proved just as useful. Ansley Lynch and Mariah Overholt each grabbed eight rebounds, with Lynch scoring six points and Overholt scoring five.
“They came out and hustled and kept a lot of possessions alive,” Alm said of her two freshmen. “All of them have so much heart. They play so hard and never let up.”
The Mountaineers grabbed a 7-2 lead three minutes in the game, but Polk County scored nine straight points to grab an 11-7 advantage with 3:09 left in the first and never relinquished the lead. Kropp scored 10 points in the period.
Polk County also got four points from Alana Seay and three points from Bella Marino. Kendall Hall had five rebounds for the Wolverines, who are scheduled to be back in action Wednesday night at Owen.
