On Friday, December 5, the opening game of the 2014-15 Conference play for Morrison ended with a victory, but sent the Fillies home with plenty to work on.
The Fulton Steamers jumped out quickly to a 6-0 lead, before Emma Melton and Lakin Goodman combined for seven unanswered points. The Fillies regained the lead before the quarter ended with Fulton on top 8-7.
The Fillies controlled the second quarter. The Steamers made only one-of-eight free throws. Jaedon Workman and Goodman added points beyond the arc to take a halftime lead to the locker room of 20-13.
The second half continued to be a struggle of missed opportunities. But reducing the turnovers to only four for the quarter and forcing the Lady Steamers to turn the ball over seven times allowed the Fillies to enter the final stanza with an 11 point lead of 29-18.
Feeling the urgency to cut into the Fillies’ lead, Averi Leitzen downed two three-pointers, and Betsy Leonard connected on three short jumpers. With less than two minutes left in the game, the Steamers had cut the lead to 35-30. The Fillies response was to slow the ball and force the Steamers to foul to stop the clock. Their strategy paid off, as they connected on five-of-six free throws, to close out the Steamers and take home a Conference win with the score of 39-30.
Morrison 7 – 13 – 9 – 10 = 39, Fulton 8 – 5 – 5 – 12 = 30
Morrison Scoring: (2-pt, 3-pt, ftm, fta) Melton (2,0,1/1=5); Goodman (2,1,5/7=12); Sitzmore (5,1,0/2=11); Canales (1,0,0/0=2); Davis (0,0,0/0=0); Wallander (0,0,0/0=0); Banks (1,0,0/0=2); Vos (0,0,0/0=0); Workman (0,1,2/2=5); Greul (1,0,0/0=2).
The Fresh-Soph Morrison team scored 50 points to Fulton’s 47.