Allen East’s Rilynn Jones takes it down the lane and is defended by Leipsic’s Leah Kirkendall (3) and Jazelle Perez (32), on Thursday night at Allen East.
Nate Reynolds | The Lima News
HARROD – Allen East likes to get out in transition.
However, with Allen East playing three games this week, coach Aaron Montgomery wasn’t sure how much his players had left in their tanks.
The Mustangs proved they had enough to get the job done on Thursday when they faced Leipsic.
Allen East jumped out early on visiting Leipsic and never looked back, en route to a convincing 39-14 victory in a Northwest Conference matchup.
With the win, Allen East improved to 14-2 overall and 3-2 in the NWC. Leipsic fell to 7-8 in all games played and 1-5 in conference action.
Rilynn Jones led Allen East and all scorers with 13 points. Jones also had seven rebounds and seven steals. Savana Brooks had eight points, four rebounds, and one block for the Mustangs.
“They’re a physical bunch,” Montgomery said about Leipsic. “We knew we had to bring it on the defensive end. We knew our legs probably wouldn’t be there with three games this week. So, we wanted to hone in at the defensive end and see if we could create some turnovers, or some long rebounds so we could get out in transition. That’s what we do best. We just wanted to force a lot of turnovers and see if we could get out early, so we could kind of slow the game down (as the game progressed).”
Allen East slipped out to a 10-5 lead by the end of the first quarter and extended its lead to 22-6 by the halftime break.
Allen East outscored the Vikings 13-0 in the third quarter and led 35-6 by the third stop.
“I have a scrappy bunch – my guards, especially,” Montgomery said. “They’re hard-nosed. The one thing about us is that you’ll see a lot of man-to-man (defense) from us because they’re such a scrappy bunch.”
In the first half, Allen East’s defensive pressure helped cause 12 Leipsic turnovers. The Vikings ended the night with 23 miscues. Allen East turned the ball over 11 times.
For the game, Leah Kirkendall and Jazelle Perez each scored five points for Leipsic. Kirkendall came away with 10 boards.
Allen East won the battle on the boards, 40-32.
“We want to win all the loose balls,” Montgomery said. “If the ball is on the floor, you’re going to see at least one or two of our players on the floor. Our girls embrace that mentality. … We want to outwork everybody that we play.”
Both teams struggled at the offensive end.
Allen East connected on 29.4 percent of its field-goal attempts, while Leipsic shot just 12.1 percent from the floor.
“We really wanted to locate who their shooters were, and just make it tough,” Montgomery said. “We figured if they’re going to hit shots on us, let’s at least make them contested.”
Montgomery was pleased with his bench players’ contributions on Thursday. In all, nine players broke into the scoring column.
“Taylor Nickles (2 points, 5 rebounds) came off the bench. She (Nickles) scored two points but had some big rebounds. Ella Miller came in and gave us some great defense. She (Miller) didn’t score tonight, but she gave us some great defense. Brynn Richardson came in. … She (Richardson) knows her role. She’s going to get us some loose balls. Rylie Jordan (2 points, 3 rebounds) is one of those scrappy guards. She (Jordan) is going to play ‘in your face defense’,” Montgomery said with a grin.
Score by Quarters
Leipsic 5 1 0 8 – 14
Allen East 10 12 13 4 – 39
Leipsic
Ashlynn Stuber 1, Skyler Fausey 1, Leah Kirkendall 5, Ava Henry 2, Jazelle Perez 5. Totals: 4-6-14.
Allen East
Rylie Jordan 2, Lydia Payne 3, Savana Brooks 8, Rilynn Jones 13, Aubrey Young 2, Dylan Miller 3, Soraya Jackson 5, Brynn Richardson 1, Taylor Nickles 2. Totals: 15-7-39.
3-pointers made: Allen East – Savana Brooks 1, Dylan Miller 1
Records: Allen East 14-2, 3-2 NWC; Leipsic 7-8, 1-5 NWC
