Jones, Harvey lead Maroons past Lancers

The night that Belleville West coach Seth Garrett and the Maroons have been waiting for may have arrived on Tuesday at Belleville East High School.

Junior forward Anjanice Jones scored a career-high 17 points and helped sophomore Sydney Thurwalker dominate the backboards as Belleville West rolled to a wire-to-wire 50-39 triumph over city rival Belleville East on the Lancers’ home court in a Southwestern Conference game.

Averaging just four points game, the athletic 5-foot-10 Jones more than doubled that output — in the second quarter — scoring nine points and keying an 18-6 West advantage as the Maroons (5-3, 2-1) took a 28-14 lead.

East (6-4, 3-2), cut the West lead to five points early in the fourth quarter on sophomore Brittney Nitz’ third 3-point basket of the game. But Jones helped end the drama for the near capacity crowd when she scored on a pair of short jumpers.

Erika Harvey, who led all scorers with 18 points, then hit a 12-foot jumper and added four straight free throws as the Maroons pushed their advantage back to double digits to score the win.

Garrett said he wasn’t surprised East backed off Jones, who in the past has struggled on the offensive end of the court. So was the 17-point night a sign of things to come?

“We’ve been waiting for Anjanice to have that breakthrough game,” Garrett said. “In the past she’s has had a habit of standing around and watching and we have been on her about that. I wasn’t surprised they (East) backed off of her and gave her room. I might have done the same thing.

“But tonight she was active from the start. She used the backboard from straight on to bank a couple of shots in and she made her free throws. It was a good effort.”

Key sequence

The lone senior in the Maroons starting lineup, the rock-solid Harvey opened the second quarter with her fourth medium range jumper as West doubled up on the Lancers with a 14-7 lead.

Jones, who was 7-of-8 from the line in the period, made four straight free throws on consecutive trips down the floor and when Thurwalker followed by making one-of-two from the charity stripe, West had an 18-7 lead.

Nitz then got East on the scoreboard with her first 3-point jumper and would later add a second basket from beyond the arc to keep East within striking distance. But it was the rebounding of Jones and Thurwalker — especially on the offensive end — which led to East committing costly fouls and sending West to the foul line.

The Maroons were 14-of-16 from the foul line in the second quarter.

“We did a great job on the boards. Sydney (Thurwalker) is one player I never have to worry about going hard. I can’t tell you how many rebounds there were where she was able to keep the ball alive which in turn led us to getting fouled,” Garrett said. “We got to the foul line a lot — especially in the second quarter — and we were able to make them.”

Lancers rally

A three-jumper by Kaylee Hanger early in the third quarter gave West a 31-16 lead, but with East using its speed and quickness to effectively double team Maroon players in a half court trap, it seemed to chance the complexion and momentum of the game.

With freshman Kayla Rainey and sophomore Myriah Noodel-Haywood combining for eight points, East closed to within 33-26 after three quarters.

Rainey and Nitz scored to start the final quarter as East closed to within 35-30, but a basket by West freshman Chamya Darough, a pair of baskets by Jones and a basket by Harvey occurred in a 90-second span as West opened its lead once more.

“I thought we caused them (West) some problems with our speed in the half court trap and I thought we had the momentum when we cut the lead to five points early in the fourth quarter. We just couldn’t get over the hump,” Lancers coach Amanda Kemezys said. “We just didn’t shoot the basketball very well.

“Brittney (Nitz) did a nice job of coming off the bench and hitting a pair of 3-point jumpers in the second quarter and in the final quarter she hit another one. But we just got beat bad on the boards. Rebounding is about hustle and desire and they (West) beat us bad in those areas. That’s something we’ll have to address.”

Key perfomers

Nitz enjoyed the finest night of her Lancers varsity career with 14 points, while Rainey added 10. Harvey paced Belleville West with 18 points, while Jones chipped in with 17.

This story was originally published December 15, 2015 at 10:29 PM with the headline "Jones, Harvey lead Maroons past Lancers."