Ryan MahanSpringfield State Journal- Register
EDITOR'S NOTE: A previous version of this story had the incorrect spelling for Southeast girls basketball coach Jasmin Woolfolk.
The Springfield High girls’ basketball team’s City Tournament opener on Wednesday was one of those games that would’ve frustrated the coach in the loss but would be a teachable moment in a win.
The game film from the second-seeded Senators’ 50-43 win over No. 3 Southeast at the Bank of Springfield Center won’t serve as a clinic on the sport but it can boost the confidence of SHS.
Pulling out the win
Springfield committed 23 turnovers and was 16 of 39 shooting inside the 3-point arc with many missed layup opportunities. But the Senators survived on 17 offensive rebounds and 15 second-chance points.
Emma Scheffler led SHS (13-7 overall, 1-0 City) with 15 points, Ariana Williams had 11 and Keziah Toran finished with eight points.
“I think we can do better on the layups, but I think it helped that our posts crashed the boards and got offensive rebounds because it gave us a chance to get those second-chance points when we did miss a layup,” senior guard Emma Scheffler said.
Southeast (8-13, 0-1 City) jumped out to a 6-0 start on two 3-pointers from senior Marisa Gant and led 8-5 with 3:19 left in the opening period, but the Senators finished the quarter on a 10-0 run and never trailed again.
“We didn’t come out knowing where Marisa was, and she got a couple of threes right off the bat and that’s like all we talked about before (Tuesday),” SHS coach Brad Scheffler said. “She still got her points in the second half, but I thought we did pretty good in the first half.
“I thought overall our defense was pretty good. We’ve got to cut down on the turnovers and just make the easy pass, but (Southeast) sped us up a little bit. Southeast is always a tough game with them, and they had a good game plan and they made it tough on us.”
Gant finished with a game-high 18 points on 8-for-16 shooting.
“In the first half, we definitely shot ourselves out of the game: We fell in love with the three,” Southeast’s first-year coach Jasmin Woolfolk said. “We came out hot, hit a couple of threes and then we kind of got comfortable and we shot a few too many.”
The Spartans were 5-for-17 on threes.
Malorie Harris scored on a put-back bucket with 1:35 left in the half as the Senators went up 25-13.
Hitting progress marks
Wednesday’s game was the Senators’ sixth win in a row. The Schefflers both see the team hitting benchmarks necessary to be a tough opponent come postseason time.
“Our posts have been playing a lot better here the last couple of weeks — really since Christmas, they’ve been playing a lot better,” Brad Scheffler said. “We got some good passes (into the post) and I think we can get more in there, but you’ll take what the defense gives you.”
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He also complimented his senior guards, Zakitah Lott and his daughter, Emma.
“With two senior guards, you like your chances to be able to finish a game and we were able to do that at the end,” said coach Scheffler. “(Ariana Williams) inside, she finishes even better than she has been lately. I think it’s good to get the feet wet a little bit. Some of these girls have never played in this before; it’s a little different just because it’s a bigger atmosphere.”
Emma Scheffler said she’s seen much improvement since SHS began 1-4 to start the season.
“We’ve definitely progressed,” she said. “We started out rough, but we’re starting to play better now. We had some younger girls but they’re stepping up, and I feel like we’re all starting to play together.”
New Spartans’ coach keeps working
Woolfolk may be a new face at Southeast, but she’s not new around town. The Chicago Bogan High School graduate finished her college basketball career at the University of Illinois Springfield, and graduated in 2007. She’s been here ever since.
Woolfolk has been coaching basketball for 16 years, the last nine with the Grant Middle School boys program. This is her first foray into coaching a girls high school team, and she’s already enjoying the process.
“I thought it would be a big adjustment, but it’s actually been very smooth,” Woolfolk said. “This group of girls has received me well; they’re working hard.
“Defense wins games. I like to push the tempo, I like to play position-less basketball and just getting all up in you on defense. I came from coaching on the boys side, so that aggression and getting all up in your face so the girls are getting used to me and they’re playing hard for me.”
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Every coach works to install his or her own beliefs, and it’s no different for Woolfolk, who took over after the season began for Mike Collins, who stepped down for personal reasons.
Woolfolk said she’s seeing signs of progress.
“As a coaching staff, we really harp on just playing basketball the right way: being able to make the extra pass, drive, draw (and) kick is what we want to do,” Woolfolk said. “Just getting the girls comfortable and making the right basketball play.
“The girls really fought, but Springfield’s a tough team and they do the small things. That’s what we’re working on, just doing the small things: grabbing a rebound, getting the 50/50 balls. It’s things like that which takes you from a good team to a great team. That’s what we’re working on. Coach Scheffler does a great job; his girls are disciplined and that’s what we’re working toward.”
SHG 59, Lanphier 17
The Cyclones trailed 2-0 but quickly took control by outscoring the Lions 35-6 the rest of the half.
Maggie Fleischli scored a game-high 13 points, and SHG put nine players in the scoring column in a running-clock victory.
“The balance in scoring,” SHG coach Steve Klunick said of what his team did best. “We shared the ball really well.”
The top-seeded Cyclones shot 69.2% (9 of 13) in the second quarter to outscore the No. 4 Lions 22-2.
Reese Watson added nine points while Izzy Hassebrock and Norah Long each had eight points.
Aubrey Beavers led Lanphier with seven points.
SHG's Caroline Lambert hit a 3-pointer in her first real action of the season after breaking her ankle.
Contact Ryan Mahan:788-1546,ryan.mahan@sj-r.com, Twitter.com/RyanMahanSJR.
