(Stephen Priest/CHSAANow.com)
AURORA — On a night where Grandview’s student section displayed honorable initiative as they performed the National Anthem spontaneously due to technical difficulties at the scorer’s table, their lady Wolves couldn’t replicate that same initiative — at least early on in the game.
The No. 2-ranked Grandview Wolves hosted No. 3 ThunderRidge on Tuesday night, and despite a sluggish start from Grandview that was filled with turnovers, they found a way to grind out a 59-51 victory.
The win was aided by senior Michaela Onyenwere’s 34-point effort, and helped the Wolves improve to 14-0 on the year. ThunderRidge falls to 13-3.
The Grizzlies started off the game well, poised for an upset, as their two-three zone defense was stifling the Wolves. ThunderRidge managed to force several turnovers early in the period, helping to propel them to an 8-2 lead within the first four minutes of the quarter.
However, after a quick timeout following the run from Grandview coach Josh Ulitzky, the tide of the game seemingly reversed, in large part because of the improved Wolves’ ball movement and intensity on the boards, mainly from Onyenwere.
“Offensive rebounds killed us. They worked hard, gotta give credit to them,” ThunderRidge coach Matt Asik said. “First shot for them wasn’t falling, but their second, third attempt, and getting to the foul line. They had over 20 points from the foul line, so you gotta credit their aggressiveness to the basket.”
Going into the second quarter, the Grizzlies held a slim 14-9 advantage, but it wasn’t long before Grandview hit an 8-2 scoring run sprung by an impressive perimeter shot-block and fastbreak layup by Grandview’s Onyenwere. All eight points in the scoring run were cashed in by Onyenwere, ultimately allowing the Wolves to regain the lead 17-16.
Onyenwere went on to score 16 of her team’s 23 points in the second period, with most of those coming off of put-back opportunities and free throws at the charity stripe. Asik of ThunderRidge knew he had to make adjustments going into halftime, down 32-25, in order to slowdown Grandview’s top talent.
Unfortunately, the words never transformed to action.
“Every time she shoots, we talk about we gotta get someone into her and we also, if possible, gotta get another person on her,” coach Asik said. “But you gotta get your butt into her legs so she goes over the back. But sometimes she’s gonna jump and get you, because you’re not boxing out properly and you gotta credit her, she’s a good athlete.”
The third quarter seemed to take on the same tides of the second, until Onyenwere went down at the 5:47 mark with what appeared to be a serious injury, as she landed hard on her hip following an attack to the basket from the right short-corner. Onyenwere did leave the game for the locker room, but returned minutes later.
“I hit my hip, I think it was on the ground,” Onyenwere said after the game. “She (the defender) came and I didn’t see her, I just ran in to her, but I was fine. Our great trainer, he helped me and I was back in like a minute, so it was good.”
Asik decided to switch things up late in the third quarter by going with a 1-3-1 zone concept, but even that was ineffective as by that time Grandview was in a rhythm with its ball movement and offensive intensity.
“Our kids did a better job of moving the ball a little bit better. We kinda moved some kids around a little bit and I think that helped us open it up a bit and Michaela was Michaela,” Ulitzky said.
Yet, what was lost in the hard fought win Grandview earned Tuesday night was their defensive intensity increased period after period. This was prevalent when looking at the stat-sheet, as the Wolves held the Grizzlies leading scorer, junior Jaz’myne Snipes (16.8 points per page), to just 12 points overall, and scoreless in the second quarter.
When asked about Grandview’s defensive success, Asik emphasized the great pressure Grandview put on his squad.
“Good pressure defense, and we had foul trouble,” he said. “Their pressure defense, you gotta give them credit again. They mix it up, you got zone, you got man, and it kinda keeps you guessing.”
Grandview with its win Tuesday night (14-0), remains undefeated for the time being. But both Ulitzky and star talent Onyenwere know this team still has room to grow before the season ends.
“I feel like it’s more of the process,” Onyenwere said. “We’re not going to worry about, ‘Oh we’re 14-0, we’re undefeated, we’re No. 2 in the state.’ It’s more of the process of what we do in practice every day, how hard we work in practice, and how we get things done. Things like that will help us propel in the season.”
“I think there is a lot of mistakes we made and credit ThunderRidge. ThunderRidge is a great team, their very well coached,” Ulitzky said. “Just our execution as a whole, I think can be more crisp. Yes, I think this was a huge step for us tonight, but we wanna continue to work and get better.”