Lady Blazers dominate Warriors

FEB 4, NELSON H. KOBREN MEMORIAL GYMNASIUM-

The Blazers defeated an undersized Sherwood squad 46-26 tonight as they improved to 7-9, having rebounded from their disappointing 0-4 start to the season. Sherwood fell to a dismal 3-14.

Blair out-rebounded Sherwood and also abused their zone defense with uncontested shots. Blair's overpowering defense and Sherwood's' inability to sink a clutch shot contributed to the Warriors' offensive debacle.

Blair was down 3-2 early, but then went on a 12-0 run as the early deficit proved to be the only one in the game. In fact, in the first 11:50 of the game, Sherwood could only muster one field goal and three points against Blair's stifling defense. After the Blazer run, Blair was subsequently outscored 8-6, Sherwood's most successful portion of the game.

Senior guard Jennifer Sindall, who averages 9.1 points per game for the season (third on the team), then made a three-pointer at the end of the first half, her first of two, which sparked a 21-2 Blazer run. Sindall is fourth in Montgomery County with 27 threes. She finished with ten points, and she was tied for the team lead with five steals. She also passed her way to a team high three assists. She averages 9.1 points per game for the season, third on the team.

The largest Blazer lead was 44-15 in the fourth quarter, before Blair's reserves finished the game. The Warriors finished the game on an 11-2 run against the Blazer subs. The Blazers could only make 18 of 62 shots from the field (29%) but they made up for it with quality defense, rebounding and passing. The victory was similar to the 60-39 win at Sherwood on January 2.

Coach William Lindsay believes that Blair's decrease in turnovers (from approximately 30 in the 56-42 loss at Walter Johnson in the Blazers' previous game on January 28, to 15 against Sherwood), and increase in steals helped to achieve a victory. "We cut down on turnovers to a large degree," he said, "We could have shot better but we had [21] steals. As long as we do that, it's always a plus."

Senior center Allyson Swailes came off the bench to lead all scorers with 11 points on 5 of 9 from the field, while sharing team highs with seven rebounds and five steals. She leads the team with 10.7 ppg. Junior center Emily Ramsay also capitalized on the Warriors' general lack of size with ten points (4-7 fg) as she averages 9.9 ppg. The victory came without junior Kidesh Brown, who usually starts at small forward. Brown has been suspended indefinitely for going onto the court illegitimately during the boys game against Walter Johnson.

Swailes feels that the team played with a large amount of ferocity and thus was unusually triumphant. "We kept the intensity up in this game and our team was more successful than it was all season. We played better than we ever did before," she said.

The Blazers have won seven out of their last 12 games and now hope to reach the .500 mark for the first time in four years by finishing at least 4-2. Sindall believes that the team is making the effort to achieve a .500 record. "We came out with the mentality that we need this game to finish the rest of our six games with wins," she said.

Blair's next game will be at Whitman (7-9) on February 7 at 7:00.