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Kelly blasts Chaffee in season opener
CHAFFEE - The Kelly Lady Hawks started off the 2006-07 season with an impressive road win over the Chaffee Lady Devils on Thursday night, 58-24.
Kelly used suffocating full-court pressure and trapping defense in the half-
court set to handcuff the Lady Devils all night. The Lady Hawks forced Chaffee to commit 31 turnovers in the game.
Senior Nikki Weiny led the defensive charge for Kelly with a masterful job at the top of the press and had a whopping 11 steals in the contest.
"The girls had a positive attitude tonight and played very good defense," said Kelly head coach Rod McQuerter. "These girls have worked hard in 25 straight practices and during every practice we focus on defense. The girls have to understand that we must play solid defense to win games and tonight they did a nice job."
The Lady Hawks started the game on a 7-0 run and never looked back from the fast start. Debra Hall and Sarah Ruff went to work for Kelly in the first quarter. Hall dominated the paint and had seven points in the quarter, while Ruff had five points including a 3-pointer to lift the Lady Hawks early.
Chaffee didn't score until the 3:36 mark of the first quarter. The Lady Devils scored six points in the quarter and committed seven turnovers in the same frame.
Kelly went on a 10-0 run early in the second quarter and led 24-6 with six minutes to play in the quarter. The Lady Devils once again had issues scoring and didn't light up the scoreboard in the second until four minutes had elapsed from the clock.
Chaffee committed 14 turnovers in the first half and only had 11 points. Kelly defenders were all over the court on defense with a full-court press mixed in with a trap that helped the Lady Hawks roll into halftime with a 30-11 lead.
"Every girl contributed tonight not only with good defense," said McQuerter, "but more importantly with a positive attitude. The girls feed of positive energy and we look to put as much pressure on our opponents as possible. We had a great attitude tonight and good things happened."
Kelly began both the third and fourth quarter on runs that sapped any energy left by the Lady Devils. The Lady Hawks started the third on an 8-0 run and kept the momentum going in the fourth with a 10-0 run out of the gates and built the lead to 56-21 with four minutes to play.
Hall and Ruff set the tone for Kelly with aggressive play around the basket. Hall led the Lady Hawks with 21 points and 10 rebounds, while Ruff had 15 points and eight rebounds.
Senior point guard Brittany Ponder ran the show for Kelly and had eight points, four assists, four steals and three rebounds. Weiny rounded out the scoring for the Lady Hawks with eight points.
Kelly (1-0) will participate in the Lady Devils Tournament at Chaffee and garnered the No. 2 seed behind Delta. The Lady Hawks will face No. 7 seed Scott City on Monday at 5:30 p.m. in the first round.