By RON PRESTON
Reflector-Chronicle
SALINA – The Abilene Cowgirls ran into a buzz saw Friday night in the SIT consolation game at the Bicentenial Center.
The buzz saw was the Andover Lady Trojans (10-2) who defeated the Cowgirls (8-4), 62-37. The Trojans were led by sophomore guard Kaley Hallmark, who scored a SIT single - game record 28 points against the Cowgirls.
The Trojans played aggressive, hands in your face defense and forced the Cowgirls into turnovers and missed shots throughout the game.
“We expected that pressure we just didn’t handle it well tonight,” Abilene Head Coach Janelle Geist said following the game. “They didn’t show us anything that we didn’t prepare for, we just couldn’t get it done.”
The first quarter saw the teams trade baskets early in the game and then Hallmark hit a trey and two field goals to pull the Trojans ahead to stay 12-7 at the end of the first period.
The Andover defense only allowed scoring from two Abilene players in the first half. Belle Barbieri had 9 of her team -high 15 points in the first half and Nichole Taylor had 6 points as the Cowgirls trailed 26-15 at the half.
Andover came out in the second half with a full court pressure defense and broke the game open off of Abilene turnovers and second chance scoring under their basket. Hallmark again led the Trojans with 13 points in the second half. She also put herself in the SIT record book with 4 three- point shots in a game.
Freshman post player Belle Barbieri led the Cowgirls with 15 points and she tied the record of 54 points scored for the tournament.
“She’s got a lot of physical gifts. I couldn’t be happier with her,” coach Geist said when informed of the record for Barbieri.
Andover, a 5A team and member of the AVCTL DII league, pressured the Cowgirls all night and shut down the Cowgirl offense.
“We needed the experience of playing against bigger classes of schools and schools of this caliber. I just wish we would have played better in the second half to stay in the ball game,” Geist added.
“I think we can be successful against a team of that caliber. We just haven’t gotten all the pieces together yet,” she said.
Freshman Belle Barbbieri was chosen for the SIT All -Tournament Team, representing the Cowgirls while Carly Gassman was selected as the Bill Burke Most Inspirational player.
Next action for the Cowgirls will be Friday Jan. 25th , hosting Concordia in a NCKL game.
SIT Final Results
Championship game: Salina South 41, Salina Central 35
Third place game: Andover 62, Abilene 37
Fifth place game: Clay Center 58, Concordia 30
Seventh place game: Sacred Heart 35, Smoky Valley 31
Andover 62, Abilene 37
Andover 12 14 19 17-62
Abilene 7 8 9 13-37
ANDOVER (10-2): Hallmark 12-17 0-0 28, S.Tilson 3-6 0-0 6, Routhier 1-6 0-0 2, Agnew 3-6 3-4 9, Bruner 3-4 0-1 6, Day 1-4 0-0 2, L.Tilson 0-4 0-0 0, Meisch 1-8 1-2 3, Messina 2-7 0-0 6, Weddington 0-2 0-0 0, Preboth 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 26-66 4-7 62.
ABILENE (8-4): Geist 0-3 0-0 0, Guy 3-6 0-0 6, Sexton 0-2 0-2 0, Crider 0-3 0-0 0, Taylor 6-11 0-0 12, Barbieri 4-11 7-11 15, Gassman 1-2 0-0 3, Anderes 0-1 0-0 0, Thompson 0-0 0-0 0, K.Wilson 0-0 0-0 0, C.Wilson 0-0 1-2 1, Olberding 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 14-39 8-15 37.
