Knights control Lathrop

Anyone who watches even a few basketball games will attest to the effectiveness of solid guard play. Good guards control the tempo of every game, providing floor leadership while testing the defense with outside shots and penetrating drives.

The Colony Knights girls' squad put on a demonstration of solid guard play Monday against the visiting Lathrop Malemutes, with senior point guard Kelly Quinn leading the Knights to a convincing 58-40 victory at Colony High School.

"We hit our shots and got rebounds, they didn't get many second shots," said Colony coach Don Witzel. "We were able to effectively run the ball on them tonight."

Quinn jump-started the Knights' offense with an early three-pointer as Colony opened its offense with shooting from the outside. The Knights then blended the offense well to get points with a combination of inside and outside shooting. Shooting guard Carly Thaggard pumped in seven of her 11 points as the Knights closed the first quarter with a 17-10 lead.

The combination continued to work in the second quarter with Quinn and post-player Kristina Klapperich contributing six points each for another Colony 17-point quarter and a 34-18 halftime lead. Quinn would finish with 14 points in the game with Klapperich contributing 10.

"We work a lot on our shooting with everyone contributing," Quinn said. "Once someone gets hot, we feed off them and we all get going."

The Knights' defense hustled for everything in the first half, pressing often to throw the Malemutes off guard and creating turnovers that the Knights converted into points. Domonique Colberg intercepted many Lathrop passes that denied the Malemutes an opportunity to score.

"She is so quick; we can always count on her for three or four steals a game," Quinn said. "When we press, we know we are going to get steals."

The third-quarter press was even more intensive, creating additional turnovers as the Knights further advanced their lead to 50-29 by the end of the quarter, sealing the fate of the Malemutes.

McKenzy Menard delivered six points during the quarter to give her 10 in the game.

"Last year we would come out flat in the third quarter," Witzel said. "This year we are trying to quicken the pace by pressing more in the second half."

The fourth quarter was an opportunity for the Colony bench to get some valuable playing time and give the starters a rest as the Knights cruised to the 58-40 victory.

Although Colony controlled the game throughout, Witzel felt that neither team played its best basketball.

"I thought we looked sluggish," he said. "Sometimes that's not bad because when you don't play your best, it teaches you to fight your way through the game."

Colony faced Lathrop again Tuesday, defeating the Malemutes 53-50 in a close game at Colony High School.

"Lathrop played more like I expected them to play," Witzel said. "It was a good game."