By Stacey Fisher
Freelance contributor
Special to the Tribune
On Tuesday, February 4, the Thunderbirds of Skyline High School (Pratt) hosted the Trojans of Stafford High. The teams were very familiar with each other’s game as they had multiple opportunities to see the opposition in action the previous week at the 54 Classic. This contest ended with a showdown finish, 47-41, in Skyline’s favor.
The Thunderbirds had somewhat of a slow start, and it showed when in the first half of play Skyline’s offense was not clicking. Although they were getting good looks, their shots were just not falling, while Stafford outscored them by 8 points. The teams retired at the half with the Trojans up, 24-16.
“I thought Stafford shot really well in the first half, and we struggled to put some of the little shots in,” said Head Coach Jill Nech. “In the second half, we changed our defense a little and shot the ball much better. We [also] shot really well from the free-throw line compared to what we have been. We scored almost half of our points inside the paint, which is what we have talked about. We want to shoot those high-percentage shots, rather than rely on the three-pointers.”
The adjustments worked as Skyline came out of the half with renewed determination and put together a third-quarter rally to outscore the Trojans by 10 points to tip the scale back in their favor. They finished the third up by two, 32-30. There was no looking back from there as the Birds continued their dominance, beating Stafford with a final score of 47-41. This was a good win for the Thunderbirds as they go into the waning phase of their regular season.
Considering what the rest of the season has in store for her team, Coach Nech had this to say about the remainder of the regular schedule, “We have four tough games left with Attica, Cunningham, Norwich, and Central Christian. If we can pick up a couple of wins in the next two weeks, that will help us out tremendously going into the postseason. Our keys to winning are out-rebounding our opponent and shooting more high-percentage shots than 3-pointers.”
The Thunderbirds will play the next three games on the road, concluding with Homecoming on Friday, February 21 against Central Christian.
