Woodland’s press sets tone in 57-47 win over Gardner-South Wilmington

RURAL STREATOR – After the opening handful of minutes, Gardner-South Wilmington did a nice job swatting away the turnover bug that bit it during the Panthers’ Monday night nonconference visit to the Warrior Dome.

But that bug – namely host Woodland’s three-quarter-court zone press – bit often enough and hard enough in those handful of minutes that GSW never was able to recover in a 57-47 loss to the host Warriors.

The Warriors were impressive, especially early. Relentlessly harassed by the zone press led by guards Connor Dodge and Nolan Price, GSW’s first nine possessions ended in turnovers. By the time the Panthers finally managed to get their first shot off, they trailed 14-0. Price had four of his game-high six steals in those early moments.

“We talk about it every game. Our zone press can be as good as our front line – our guards – want to make it,” Warriors coach Connor Kaminke said. “I think Nolan and Dodge really set the tone, we rotated well, and it was something like three minutes into the game before [Gardner-South Wilmington] attempted a shot.

“Then as the clock ticked and maybe we got a little fatigued, we started losing discipline with it and getting in foul trouble. ... We’re looking to play with that fire and still be disciplined when we do it. We’re trying to find that consistency to do that in long spurts the way we did early tonight.

“Thirty-two minutes would be great. I’d settle for 20 right now.”

Woodland improved to 5-2. Gardner-South Wilmington falls to 0-7.

“We just came out and started pressuring right away,” Price said. “That was basically it. We tried bringing energy, get everybody going and involved.

“My goal [in the press] is to speed everybody up, the ball handlers and create things.”

Dodge (five rebounds) and fellow senior Nick Plesko (three assists) each finished with 17 points for Woodland. Price added eight points and three assists to his six steals, with Jaron Follmer and Noah Decker pitching in six points apiece to the winning effort.

Logan Conger’s 14 points before fouling out with 3.4 seconds to play, Cole Hampson’s 13-point, seven-rebound performance and Jarreck Hirsch’s eight points and three steals paced Gardner-South Wilmington, which outshot the Warriors 45.2%-38.8% from the field.

The turnovers – even curbed as they were with GSW committing just nine the final three quarters after suffering through a dozen giveaways in the first quarter – however, proved too much to overcome. A couple of late runs drew the Panthers to within six points early in the third quarter and in the game’s closing seconds before four Dodge free throws over the final 11 seconds sealed the deal.

“We settled in,” GSW coach Allan Wills said. “They were up I think 14-0 before we even got a shot off. We actually hit some shots and were shooting OK, but we obviously had some turnovers early that put us behind.

“But after that, we competed good ... and hopefully we can bring that every game moving forward.”

Woodland led 31-21 at halftime and 46-31 heading into the fourth quarter.

The Warriors host old Midstate Conference rival Lexington on Tuesday ahead of Friday night’s Tri-County Conference showdown at Marquette Academy.

Gardner-South Wilmington will look for its first win Tuesday night at home against Clifton Central.