Fast start sends Newman past Erie-Prophetstown

STERLING – Relentless pressure, nonstop hustle and hot shooting set the tone from the start Thursday night, and Newman rode that wave to a 65-30 Three Rivers East victory over visiting Erie-Prophetstown.

The Comets (8-3, 2-1 TRAC East) nabbed 23 steals, forced 35 turnovers and scored 29 points off of them as they sped up the Panthers (1-7, 0-3) all game. Newman had three times as many shot attempts as E-P (63-21) and grabbed 20 offensive rebounds that led to 16 points.

“Our offense feeds off our defense a ton,” guard Elaina Allen said. “Our coaches always say better defense leads to better offense, and I just think once one of us gets it going down the court, it just brings all the energy, and we all just work together.”

“It’s important to get turnovers, because they lead to more buckets and more easy shots to put up,” forward Lucy Oetting added. “I think our energy and our speed [on defense] start to make other teams move faster and faster.”

[ Photos from Erie-Prophetstown at Newman girls basketball ]

Newman jumped out to a 20-4 lead in the opening 6:23. Freshman forward Gisselle Martin scored 11 of the Comets’ 22 first-quarter points, while Oetting nailed an early 3-pointer and Allen had a pair of coast-to-coast layups off steals. Allen added a perfect pass on a pick-and-roll to set up a Veronica Haley layup, then Oetting hit a pull-up jumper to start the second quarter for a 24-9 lead.

“We had good energy in the moment, and we were just on fire,” said Martin, who finished with 20 points and 12 rebounds. “We came out really strong, and it was a really good game. The other team played really hard, and we did too, and we just had a lot of energy in the heat of the moment at the start of the game.

“We played really well.”

Martin’s layup on an underneath inbounds play and Brooklyn Smith’s steal and layup pushed the margin to 28-13, then Allen followed Papoccia’s baseline drive and Oetting’s put-back with a pair of layups off a drive and a steal to make it 38-17 at halftime.

“That’s kind of how we are right now, we’re still kind of finding our legs, just trying to get in the flow of things,” E-P coach Chris Brown said. “Newman did what they’re supposed to do: They speed you up, they put pressure on you, and it seems like when you’re aggressive, usually the games go your way. Tonight, absolutely too many turnovers for us, and we didn’t get very many shots up either – but that happens when you turn the ball over too much. And we gave them too many offensive rebounds; when we did get a stop, we gave in and didn’t get the defensive board.

“It makes for a long night.”

Smith, Allen and Martin all nailed 3s in the first 2:16 of the third quarter, and Papoccia’s fast-break 3 was followed by Oetting’s baseline drive for a 54-20 lead with 1:57 left in the period. Papoccia drove the lane for a bucket, then Oetting hit a pull-up jumper along the baseline for a 58-24 lead going into the fourth.

Oetting put back her own miss, and Martin drove to the hoop to make it 65-26 with 4:54 to play, and both teams emptied their benches.

“It was amazing when everybody make plays for us,” Martin said. “We always practice hard, we always stay after practice and work really hard, just shooting shots every single day. And every time we make those shots [in practice], we know we can come out here and make them in the game, too.”

“Once one of us makes it, we’re hyping her up, and then all the hype just leads to the next person, and it leads to all of us in the end,” Allen added. “We’ve just got to play at our pace and things will go well.”

In addition to Martin’s double-double, Oetting stuffed the stat sheet with 18 points, four rebounds, four steals and three assists, and Allen added 11 points, eight steals and four assists. Papoccia had seven points and four steals, Smith finished with five points, four steals and three assists, and Haley chipped in four points and three rebounds for the Comets.

“Those are our best games, when everybody has about six points, about five rebounds, about four assists,” Oetting said. “That’s when we’re playing really well together as a team.”

Aubrey Huisman led the Panthers with 11 points, four rebounds, three steals, two assists and a blocked shot, and Ava Grawe scored seven points. Ashlyn Johnson had three points, three rebounds and three assists, Lauren Abbott added a 3-pointer and four rebounds, and Izzy Johnson chipped in three points and three steals for E-P, which did get a few good looks when it was able to run its offensive sets, but just couldn’t consistently convert.