Schankie's shooting propels Madison girls into 2nd round
By C.J. Moore (Contact)
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Madison guard Chelcie Schankie stood wide open in the corner at White Auditorium, and she hesitated.
Schankie wide open and about to turn down a shot has been a familiar trend this season. But with coach Glen Stout shouting “shoot” from the sideline, Schankie let it fly, finally listening to her coach who has been telling her to shoot and keep shooting.
Schankie did just that on Tuesday against Burlingame in the first round of the Lyon County League Tournament, and the junior guard scored a season-high 17 points, nailing three 3-pointers in a 66-35 win.
“I don’t really know what hit me tonight,” she said. “I just came out and shot the ball like what he wanted me to. In the huddles, he told me to just keep shooting it, don’t worry about anything else, just keep shooting it, and so I did.”
Schankie’s shooting and a change in philosophy by Stout had the Bulldogs playing their best basketball of the season against Burlingame.
Madison has used a full-court press all season, playing a run-and-gun style that’s led to a lot of points, but also a lot of turnovers and headaches for the coach.
Stout decided to call off the press against Burlingame and slow the game down, hoping his team would limit its turnovers.
The Bulldogs had 19 turnovers, but they won by 31, and Stout liked what he saw compared to how the Bulldogs had been playing. The first time they played Burlingame, they won 71-55.
“We ran them to death, ran us to death,” Stout said. “This time we set up, we were rested. We shot our threes very well and we still scored 66. We just played smart basketball.”
Stout also decided to switch his starting lineup, playing his five best scorers instead of his five best defensive players. The move obviously worked with Schankie inserted into the lineup. She made two of her 3-pointers in the first quarter. The Bulldogs also didn’t seem to suffer on defense. They outscored Burlingame 16-5 in the first quarter and held the Ladycats to 27 percent shooting for the game.
Schankie also became an integral part of the lineup when Shelby Buster was relegated to the bench for most of the second quarter because of foul trouble.
Buster and Morgan Stout score a majority of Madison’s points, and with Buster out, the Bulldogs needed someone else to provide some scoring punch. With Buster barely playing in the second quarter, Schankie made a driving layup, a 3-pointer and a baseline jumper, scoring seven points and helping Madison increase its lead from 11 to 13.
“That’s the key to us winning is not Shelby and Morgan, because they’re pretty much going to hit their average most the time,” Glen Stout said. “Between the two of them, they average about 40 points a game. But we’ve got to have the other four or five girls step up and score another 20 points or we don’t win. And it doesn’t make a difference who does it that night as long as the rest of the team can score 20, we’re going to win the ballgame.”
Buster and Morgan Stout did not combine for 40 against Burlingame — Morgan scored 19 and Buster had 12 — but it didn’t matter, as the rest of the Bulldogs outscored the dynamic duo.
“I think we played really well as a team,” Morgan Stout said. “This is probably the best we’ve played as a team this year, as far as everybody getting to score and everybody shooting well, and everybody played good defense.”
The object of Bulldogs’ fullcourt press was to force turnovers, but Glen Stout said that wasn’t happening. They were just getting tired and picking up more fouls. Buster was the only Madison player to get in foul trouble on Tuesday — and she only ended up with three — and the Bulldogs still had nine steals and forced 16 turnovers in the halfcourt.
“I think it was better because we didn’t get as tired,” Morgan Stout said. “Even though we did play halfcourt, we played tougher defense. Even though they brought the ball down, we knew we needed to step up if we weren’t going to play fullcourt. We like playing fullcourt and running and gunning and going for the steals, but we thought it would work better and it did.”
The slower tempo also helped Schankie, who as a shooter, needs her legs. And, as the lopsided score indicated on Tuesday, Madison needs Schankie.
“People say whether I’m on or off determines the game,” she said.
Schankie said that pressure doesn’t get to her. Her unselfishness is the only thing holding her back, and she’s finally starting to get the message.
“He’s been telling me to shoot more,” she said, “so I’m getting to where I’ll shoot it.”
Madison girls 66, Burlingame 35
Burlingame 5 12 8 10 — 35
Madison 16 14 17 19 — 66
Burlingame — Greenwood 8, Atchison 9, McKanna 2, Creviston 2, Fagan 6, Love 8.
Madison — Ratcliff 4, Olsen 2, Schankie 17, Stout 19, Ballard 3, Buster 12, Bybee 3, Titus 6.
SCC girls 62, MdCV 13
Southern Coffey County held Marais des Cygnes Valley scoreless in the first quarter and rolled to an easy first-round victory on Tuesday at the Lyon County League Tournament.
The top-seeded Titans were led in scoring by Laurie Ohl, who scored 15 points. Kristen Garland added 12 points. SCC will play Madison, the fourth seed, in the second round on Friday.
SCC girls 62, MdCV 13
MdCV 0 3 4 6 — 13
SCC 9 16 18 19 — 62
MdCV — Rice 5, Rose 5, Spencer 1, Lemmon 2.
SCC — Isch 2, Garland 12, Gudenkauf 3, Witteman 4, Shields 5, Ohl 15, Stephens 11, Meyer 6, Rogers 2, Yotz 2.
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