Defensive minded Mascoutah keeps Althoff reeling

With an offense still not where coach Terry Moeller would like it to be, the Mascoutah Indians defense remained air tight on Thursday at Althoff High School.

Senior guard Maddie Nekola and Amaya Keeling combined for five 3-point field goals in the first 10 minutes and the Mascoutah defense held the struggling Althoff Crusaders in check as the Indians went on for a 36-24 nonconference win.

With Nekola striking for six of her 11 points on a pair of 3-point baskets and Tennaye Green adding a pair of baskets in the lane, the Indians jumped out to a 14-9 lead after one quarter. Althoff (2-7) then went nearly nine minutes — a span which included the entire second quarter — without a point as the Indians (7-1) took a 13-point lead into halftime.

With high-scoring junior Kyleigh Vaught completely shut down by the Indians’ box-and-1 defense and foul trouble, Althoff generated little offense during the first half of play.

“Obviously out main focus was on No. 11 (Vaught) and the two defenders we had guarding her I thought did a good job,” Moeller said. “Our defense is still ahead of our offense, but even though you couldn’t tell it by point production, we’re getting better on the offensive end of the floor.

“Our guards did a good job of penetrating and then getting the ball back outside for our shooters and I thought Tennaye (Green) was very active inside early in the game. She wanted the basketball and that we good to see.”

KEY SEQUENCE

Leading 14-9 after one quarter, the Indians outscored Althoff 8-0 to take a 22-9 lead. Keeling and Nekola added 3-point baskets and senior Katie Jokisch scored on an inside move for the only points of the period. Althoff, which was led by junior Maggie Reimer’s four first-half points, got almost nothing going on the offensive end of the court.

At halftime, Althoff had four more turnovers (13) than points (nine).

“They (Mascoutah) really bothered us with the box-and-1 in the first half on Kyleigh (Vaught). Then when she went to the bench in foul trouble, we had nobody who picked up the slack,” Althoff first-year coach Nick Knolhoff said. “It’s not that we didn’t have chances. We had some good looks at the basket that we just didn’t convert on.

“But it was really a tale of two halves. We actually won the second half 15-14 and a lot of those points were because of hustle and determination.”

KEY PLAYERS

Green and Jokisch led the way for the Indians with 10 points each. Jokisch, showing her experience and poise, tallied eight of her 10 points in the final two quarters to keep the Indians in control of the game.

“She (Jokisch) Kind of took control of things in the second half,” Moeller said. “I think our experience really helped us in the second half. Before this year we may have lost our poinse in the half. Tonight we were able to play well enough down the stretch.”

This story was originally published December 10, 2015 at 10:59 PM with the headline "Defensive minded Mascoutah keeps Althoff reeling."