McGee puts Wolves back on track

Not only are they big, they’re quick, too, which pays dividends when the Wolves put their full-court pressure defense on opponents.

Case in point was junior Sarah McGee, who not only had a game-high 16 points for Black Hills in its 2A Evergreen Conference victory over Centralia, 68-47, on Thursday night, but also had a team-best eight steals as the Wolves forced 29 Tiger turnovers.

“I rely on the fact that our bigs – with the exception of Shayla (Smothers) are as fast as the other teams’ bigs, if not faster than their bigs,” first-year Black Hills coach Tanya Greenfield said.

McGee was one of three Wolves to score in double figures, as Smothers scored 13 points with Hope Mortensen adding 11.

It was a much-needed win for the team which lost its league opener Tuesday to Aberdeen, 58-45, on the road after opening the season at 5-0.

“We needed this,” Greenfield said. “They needed it for the morale and to pull together as a team. When you don’t lose, you don’t know yet what the reaction is going to be.”

Thanks to its full-court press, Black Hills (6-2 overall, 1-1 2A EvCo) quickly built up a double-digit lead, 23-11, just a minute into the second quarter on a much-improved Centralia (3-3, 0-1) squad, coached by former River Ridge coach Tom Kelly.

And despite the Wolves having their shooting woes in the second half – at one point having just made five field goals through a quarter-and-a-half – the defense help set the tone with transition baskets.

With Black Hills leading 50-29 going into the fourth quarter, the Tigers, who already have surpassed their win total from their 1-19 record last season, went on a big run. Freshman point guard Alyx Fast had all seven of Centralia’s points in a 56-second span to open the quarter, pulling the Tigers to within 13 at 50-37.

Centralia closed the gap to nine at 54-45 with less than 4 minutes remaining before Black Hills went on a 14-2 run to close out the game.

Fast finished with a game-high 18, which included 16 points in the first half.

Michaela Hall added 17 points for Centralia, with 12 coming in the first half.