Kellogg shows their depth in rout of Miners

KELLOGG –– The Kellogg Wildcats showed off their pouncing skills on Tuesday night as they turned a big first half into a runaway 52-18 win over the visiting Wallace Miners.

Kellogg’s full-court zone press and stout defense made advancing the ball a near impossible task for the Miners who trailed 31-11 at the halftime.

The third quarter opened with the Wildcats going on a 10-0 run before Jen Hayman was able to get Wallace on the board.

Kellogg once again relied on their athletic forwards, particularly Kaitlin Senteney and Kaili Cates who ran and slashed their way to 13 and 8 points respectively.

Wildcat guard Erin Van Hoose had herself a night for Kellogg as well, pitching in 10 points and making sure that her squad always kept control of the ball.

Wallace was led by Hayley Oertli who finished with five points.

“We executed our game plan pretty well,” coach Jana Nearing said. “Run and run and run and play man to man defense. They came out and played hard, and unselfish while making really good passes.”

Like any coach with postseason aspirations Nearing didn’t let her team off without finding an area that she feels needs some work.

“Our man to man defense needs some work,” Nearing said. “We need to work on getting around screens and denying cutters. But I think we could work and improve everything that we do.”

Nearing spoke about her team’s depth and the ability she has to continuously throw players on the floor who can competently run the offense and defense. “We have a whole bench-full of girls who can be rotated in at any time,” Nearing said. “We don’t really have weak spot there. I’m really proud of them for what they did tonight. We have great attitudes and we play really well together and are showing real work ethic and that is something that is going to help us continue to get better.”