AUTHOR NOTE: As we begin the New Year, I just wanted to take a moment to say thank you to the coaching staffs of River and North Olmsted for always making KOS feel so welcome in your gyms

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North Olmsted, OH – The River Pirates used strong defense early and late to walk away with a 46-34 victory over North Olmsted at The Nest today.  The Pirates held the Eagles to just 10 first half points, including only 3 in the second quarter to get the job done.

River Head Coach Jamey Pfahl had this to say about the Pirates effort today, “working hard on the defensive side helps and not having turnovers is also a key, we only had 2 in the first quarter which really helped.”

The Pirates went through a long shooting slump in the final 4 plus minutes of the first half and then the first 6 minutes of the second half.  They had built up a big enough lead that it didn’t hurt them too much, but coach Pfahl talked about that as well, “It’s tough, you don’t want blame it on holiday legs, but every team goes through it.  We gave them time off and it was just finding their legs today and we told them to do it on the defensive end. “

The Pirates were led by Olivia Dewey with 13 and Claudia Roche with 10 while Libby Lang had 9.  Bridget Carlin and Nora Bruder each had 5 while Angelina Swallow and Emma Vladescu each finished with 2.  For the Eagles, they were led by Rose Lane with 11 and Morgan Outrich with 7 while Julia Tashin scored 3.  Rounding out the scoring for the Eagles was Shelley Gray with 3 while Katie Strong, Peyton Johnson and Emily Meyer each had 2.  For the Eagles as well, it was Taylor Wengstrom finishing with a point.

Nora Bruder made two in a row midway though the first quarter to double up the Eagles 8-4.  This was followed by an inside move from Lang to extend the Pirate lead to 10-4.  The run reached 12-4 before an Outrich 3 for the Eagles, slowed it down a bit. From there however, the Pirates finished on a 8-0 run with buckets by Roche, Carlin and Bruder to hold a commanding 20-7 lead after one.

After a Tashin three ball made it 22-10, it was Olivia Dewey scoring four straight to extend the Pirate led to 28-10 with 4:39 left to play in the second quarter.  Shockingly, the remaining 4:39 went by without a single point from either team, and the Pirates remained on top 28-10 at the break.

An 8-3 run in the first 5 minutes of the second half cut it to 31-18 and gave the Eagles life.  The River hoops final awoke from their slumber as they outscored the Eagles 5-2 with buckets by Dewey and Lang to close the third quarter.  A 6 point run by Dewey in the fourth helped the River Pirates seal the win for good.  Also scoring in the closing minutes was the feisty freshman Angelina Swallow as River closed out the game with a 46-34 win.