DANVILLE – Midway through the second quarter on Saturday, Danville still hadn’t found its footing.
Having not played since Dec. 23, the Blue Devils (7-3, 5-1 Knox Morrow Athletic Conference) appeared rusty against their arch rival. East Knox (3-5, 1-5) took a 10-7 lead with 6:28 left until halftime, then tied the score at 12 on a Madi Annett lay-in with 3:54 to go. Danville was in danger of abandoning its four-game winning streak, as shots rimmed out and the defense appeared out-of-sync.
It was time for the team’s seniors to right the ship. At that moment, All-Ohio forward CeCe Newbold looked inward.
“Our shots weren’t really falling,” she recalled afterwards. “So if not me, then who?”
Newbold proceeded to dominate the final four minutes of the half, asserting herself on both ends of the floor and leading Danville on a 15-2 run. The senior did it all – she rebounded and stole the ball defensively, led the break, and created offensive opportunities on the other end. She’d tallied 21 points by halftime – 15 of which came in the second quarter.
“She worked hard, she was in good position,” Danville coach Matt Proper said. “Her defensive anticipation, I thought, was really good.”
Danville took a 27-14 lead into halftime and never looked back. The Blue Devils went on to vanquish their rivals, 51-37. Newbold led all scorers with 23 points, while fellow senior Ally Bower added 13. Meggan Bartok led East Knox with 19 points; Alexandria Magers had 8.
While Newbold shone late in the first half, it was a team effort that propelled Danville on its monstrous run. The Blue Devils cranked up the intensity in their three-quarter-court press, using active hands and lock-step backside rotations to bait East Knox into turnovers. Those led to lay-ups and open looks on the other end.
“We either handled [the press] the way it was supposed to be done and got easy layups, or we looked like we had never played against it…” East Knox coach Chip Pozderac lamented. “We worked on this, you can’t try to lob it over. You fake one to make one.
“We probably had 25, 26 turnovers, and then we gave up some uncontested layups. So you take those out of the equation and it’s another ballgame.”
With the score tied at 12, Newbold hit a pull-up jumper off the dribble, then converted a free throw on the next possession. Then the defensive onslaught began. Sophomore Brooklyn Hess stole a pass and went coast-to-coast for a lay-in; seconds later, Danville forced another turnover, which led to a Newbold bucket.
East Knox was able to score on Danville’s press once in the final four minutes, when Shanda Melick caught the ball underneath the basket and laid it in through contact. Otherwise, it was all Danville, all the time.
The Blue Devils outscored the Bulldogs by just one point in the second half. It was the second quarter – really, the final 3:54 – that decided the game.
“I think we just started flying around a little bit more. You know, we were mixing up some zone three-quarter-court pressure, along with some man, just kind of running through our series of defenses there. I think the difference was, we just started to play a little more aggressive. We kind of turned up the heat a little bit and just worked a little bit harder there to pull ahead…” Proper explained.
“I thought that spurt right there really kind of changed the game and changed momentum, and kind of won us the game.”
Saturday marked Danville’s fifth straight win, as the Blue Devils have not lost since Dec. 7. Led by an experienced core, the Blue Devils have high expectations this season. They made it to the Div. IV district semifinals last year before falling to top-seeded Fairfield Christian.
“I want to make a far run in the tournament,” said Newbold, when asked about her goals.
Newbold believes her squad is showing signs of improvement midway through the season. The team’s on-court chemistry is developing as the second round of KMAC play begins.
“We’re finding our spot where everyone goes,” Newbold said. “Everyone has a part to play in the game, so we’re really finding those key points and capitalizing on those.”
East Knox, meanwhile, has battled injuries this winter. The Bulldogs have struggled to string wins together through the first half of the season.
“We’ve really battled,” Pozderac said. “I’ve had kids in the hospital with the flu… it’s just an uphill battle.”
East Knox kept its feisty mentality on Saturday, despite losing the lead in the second quarter. The Bulldogs went toe-to-toe with Danville in the second half, as Bartok led the charge with 15 of the team’s final 23 points. The senior attacked the basket for layups and pull-ups all afternoon, getting to her spots and knocking down tough shots.
“She’s been a good player since she came into high school. This is my seventh year and I feel like she’s been there for seven years,” Proper said with a smile.
“But she’s a lefty, so she likes to hit that short corner, hit that little jump shot. She’s good at kind of floating in the air and finishing with a hand in her face. I thought we had decent defense, but her offense was better. That happens sometimes; she’s a good ballplayer.”
Bartok scored five straight points to end the third quarter, cutting the deficit to 14. She scored four more points to begin the fourth quarter, as East Knox trailed 42-31. The Bulldogs trimmed the deficit to 10 with 3:43 left, but would not score the rest of the game.
Missed shots, turnovers and foul trouble plagued East Knox down the stretch, but the Bulldogs never gave in.
“It was a 10-point game in the [fourth], but when you dig a hole, it’s tough to get out of,” Pozderac said. “And we dug a hole in that second [quarter] with foul trouble.”
Both teams struggled to get going early due to long winter-break layoffs. Danville hadn’t played since Dec. 23, while East Knox hadn’t played since Dec. 21. Both teams seemed a step slow during the first quarter, although East Knox emerged with an 8-7 lead. Danville eventually found its footing in the second, and East Knox did not.
“Our energy level was not always there,” Pozderac said. “We didn’t have it all the time, so that’s what we had a discussion about. But if you’re not winning, you’re learning.”
Proper said he was proud of his team’s perseverance on Saturday.
“It’s always nice to get a win after a break because you don’t know how it’ll go conditioning-wise and speed-of-the-game-wise,” Proper said. “I’m proud of them.”
Beating East Knox is always a priority for Danville, but this year’s Devil-Dog game carried a little extra weight. East Knox moved down to Div. IV this year, which means the Bulldogs are in the same district as Danville. Bragging rights were on the line Saturday, like always – but so were tournament seeding votes.
“It’s a big game at multiple levels,” Proper said.
WHAT’S NEXT: After multi-week gaps in between games, Danville and East Knox will pick up the pace in the coming weeks. The Blue Devils will play seven games in the next 15 days, while the Bulldogs will play five.
Danville will host Delaware Christian on Monday, Mount Gilead on Wednesday and Centerburg on Saturday. East Knox will continue its road swing at Highland on Wednesday and at Fredericktown on Saturday.
