Shekinah girls extinguish Academy

By NICOLE HOMSHER

For The Madison Press

The Shekinah Christian girls basketball team was in action Tuesday night, beating visiting Columbus Academy 51-42 behind Tori Yoder’s 14-point performance.

After falling behind early in the first quarter, 12-9, Shekinah really started to play with some heart and became more aggressive on defense, while finally getting its shots to drop going ahead 30-25 at the half.

Coach Rod Yoder knew his team had made a big turn- around after the first quarter.

“We came out not very strong and didn’t want the game as bad as Academy did,” Yoder said. “After that first quarter we really started playing more aggressive and started rebounding better. That is how we got ourselves back in the game,”

The third quarter became more about time possession and defense than scoring, with the Flames coring only nine points, but also holding Columbus Academy to only 5.

Tori Yoder was proud of the way her teammates came out at halftime and their defensive work in the third quarter.

“We really came out aggressive on defense in that third quarter,” Tori Yoder said. “We knew we had a good opportunity to win the game, but that was going to solely rely on our defense.”

Shekinah held on strong to finish the game and keep Academy out of reach.

The only time the game was in question was when Academy brought the lead down to eight, but Yoder and her teammates were not going to let this win slip away from them.

“The girls really handled the pressure well at the end of the game,” coach Yoder said. “We got a little sloppy and need to use this as a lesson on how we can handle the pressure teams are going to give us late in games,”

Tori Yoder agreed with her coach.

“As a team we need to learn how to handle the type of pressure that Academy was throwing at us and not give away stupid fouls,” Tori Yoder said. “This game was definitely a lesson for us and I know we will take it and learn from it.”

Coach Yoder also talked about Tori’s game and how it just may have been her best game of the season.

“Tori played very well tonight, one of the best I have seen her play,” Rod Yoder said. “She was aggressive to the basket, took her shots when they were available and really played a great all- around basketball game tonight.”

Tori took the compliment in stride.

“My shots were finally dropping and I felt that because of that I had more confidence to play more aggressively,” Tori Yoder said. “As a team I think we all felt that way and I’m really glad to just get the win tonight.”

After Tori, Ashley Gingerich had nine points and Bridget Troyer followed with eight of her own.

The Flames (15-4) will next play host to Horizon Science Academy on Friday at 7:30 pm.