Patch gets revenge by defeating Heidelberg
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STUTTGART, Germany - The Patch girls basketball team only had to wait a few days to get some revenge.
Coming off a 60-56 loss to Heidelberg on Tuesday - the first defeat for the Panthers this season - Patch defeated the Lions 43-32 to break a tie atop the standings and finish the regular season as Region III champions.
“Tuesday, we just let them get some easy shots,” said Patch coach John Kohut. “We didn’t front them down low. We didn’t play pressure defense. And they got some good shots. And we didn’t play up to our level.”
“We came out stronger and were ready to go,” Heidelberg coach Jon Mittenzwey said of the Tuesday meeting. “Tonight, we didn’t. Tonight we floundered a bit in the begining and weren’t ready to go until the third quarter.”
The Lady Panthers, who improved to 11-1 in the region and 13-1 overall, led the game from the start. They were only out-scored in the fourth quarter by four points. Janelle Loney, who led her team to the Division I title last year, put up 27 points. Johanna Quinn had eight.
“We focused on our defense and what we do well,” Kohut said. “And we moved the ball around and tried to control it instead of beating them on the up tempo. Because, last time we tried to force it and pass it and go faster and faster and we were losing, losing, losing. Tonight, you heard me say, ‘Patience, patience. Hold it. Control it.’
Heidelberg’s Mittenzwey said he needed to figure out why his team, which fell to 10-2 and 11-3 with the loss, didn’t play as well.
“That’s something we’re going to have to evaluate. I asked (the team) that in the locker room. I said, ‘What’s different? What’d you do? Why’d you come out this way and not the other way?’ It’s just something, as a coaching staff, as a team, we’re going to have to work through until we figure it out.”
Both teams will now prepare for the competition they will face in the tournament next week.
“We’ll evaluate more than just the team we just lost to,” Mittenzwey said. “We have three or four other legitimate contenders, including ourselves. We’ll look at who we might be seeded against and work towards that goal one game at a time.”
rogersbd@estripes.osd.mil
