Boone County - Cincinnati Colerain Scrimmage

[WVFrank]

Good battle last night at Colerain. The Colerain squad returns four starters from last year's squad which was pretty good and has at least two college signees in 6-0 Shelley Harper (Eastern Kentucky) and 5-10 Sheaira Jones (Lehigh - I think). The scrimmages were split two quarters by the JV squads, followed by two by the varsity, then a repeat for four quarters of action by both the JV and varsity squads. And the quarters were seven minutes versus eight for whatever reason.

 

The varsity game was a defensive struggle for the most part and shooting was cold initially. Colerain led at the end of one quarter by a margin of 10-7. The offense picked up a bit in quarter two and after Colerain built a 15-10 lead Boone came back with seven straight points to go up by 2 and the "halftime score" was 19-18 Boone.

 

The varsity squads then rested as the JV's played their second "half". The JV squads played very evenly although I've lost the actual score.

 

The second "half" by the varsity squads saw Colerain outplay Boone in the "third" quarter, fueled by a couple of three pointers, to lead by 31-27 after three quarters of play. But Boone came out strong in the fourth, led by a tenacious defense to end the four quarters with a 43-36 margin. Through the first 5-1/2 minute Colerain had only a single 3-pointer and scored only 5 points in the quarter versus Boone's 16.

 

This scrimmage was a bit different than others I've seen with the 7 minute quarters and the two quarters at a time format. It was a bit closer to a "real" game than last weeks scrimmage in that both teams used their main players more, although there were periods when both squads had younger players on the floor. Sydney Moss, after missing her first four shots from the floor (with at least two "rimming out"), was then outstanding in all aspects the rest of the way. She took over the game in the last quarter played, scoring 12 points including two and-one's. She finished the night with 23 points, 10 rebounds, 8 steals and 6 assists.

 

Boone looked much better overall with better guard play, fewer turnovers (although there were some), better outside shooting from several players, and an excellent rebounding effort against a Colerain team that is physical and normally very tough on the boards.

 

All that said, it was still a scrimmage and perhaps not indicative of how a regular game between these two might turn out. But I do think Boone showed considerable growth from their first scrimmage outing.

[Clyde]

Tell me about the Hill girl.

[WVFrank]

Tell me about the Hill girl.

 

Zuri is a definite asset for Boone. She's listed 5-11 but she doesn't look to be quite as tall as Sydney so probably not 5-11. But very strong, tough, tenacious. She is a good rebounder, jumps well, and has a nose for the ball. Solid defender. Not real polished offensively but can score in close and will probably get a few putbacks in most games. I think she will continue to improve as she becomes more comfortable with what Nell wants and with her new teammates.

 

She had a tough night foul-wise last night though. Seemed like every time she moved she had a foul called on her. Some I understood, some I scratched my head. An example of that was when she didn't have inside position but simply beat the inside girl up to the ball for the rebound. Never touched the girl at all...........foul. Of course there does seem to almost be an automatic call when the person that doesn't have position gets the ball, even if the official has to "look through" one of the players to find contact that doesn't exist. I was a little surprised at the way calls went against Zuri last night as Cincinnati teams typically play a little more physical.

 

No question Zuri makes Boone a tougher team than they were without her.