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Chalker, Warnick stifle Bristol

Tribune Chronicle / Bob Ettinger Shae Keeley of Chalker goes up for a shot as Alayna Sines of Bristol defends on Thursday night at Chalker. The Wildcats beat Bristol, 51-40, in a Northeastern Athletic Conference matchup.

SOUTHINGTON — During his tenure as girls basketball coach at Chalker, Matt Yoder has preached pressure on both the offensive and defensive ends of the floor.

Diminutive guard Courtney Warnick fits into that system nearly perfectly as she attacks defenders as relentlessly as she attacks the rim on a drive down the lane. With Warnick leading the way, the Wildcats stifled visiting Bristol, 51-40, Thursday night in Northeastern Athletic Conference play.

“We pressure,” Yoder said. “That’s part of my MO since I’ve been here. We want to make them make mistakes. (Bristol is) a young team that has a lot going for them in the future. They started three freshmen and two sophomores tonight (with the first three off the bench also being freshmen).

“We wanted to force early mistakes and make them think they couldn’t come back.”

Chalker (2-2, 1-1) used a 10-0 run that began midway through the first period to take a 17-4 lead with 56 seconds to play in the quarter and held on the rest of the way.

Tribune Chronicle / Bob Ettinger Courtney Warnick of Chalker goes in for a layup as Brook Songer of Bristol holds her ground on Thursday night at Chalker.

“Part of that is just being young,” Bristol coach John King said. “We came out in the first quarter and had that deer-in-the-headlights look. We were losing our nerves. Being in the right spots during the rest of the game and making progress the rest of the game helps. It’s good that we did break it later, got open looks and the shots went in.

“We’ve come out slow in each game. We spot teams 10 or 12 points and have to come back to win. We’ve got to stop that soon if we want to win against better teams.”

Warnick scored four of her nine points in the period during the spurt and spearheaded a defense that left the young Panthers stunned. Emma Baugher added six points in the period as Chalker took a 19-8 lead through eight minutes.

“What matters is this group of girls — this group, though we lost some key seniors from last year — has been together for two years. For some of them, this is their third year in my system. Their confident and steady. And knowing we have Courtney on the team helps, too.

“We were using a half-court diamond (press). Something we’ve worked on. Windham took advantage of us overplaying and a girl who doesn’t normally score had a career-high 13 points. We took that lesson and we hope to keep learning and moving forward.”

Tribune Chronicle / Bob Ettinger Kendyl Switzer of Bristol fights for position with Caitlyn Stuart of Chalker on Thursday night at Chalker.

Warnick finished with 25 points and a team-high three steals and three assists as Chalker used its experience to its advantage.

The Panthers (3-2, 2-2) outscored the Wildcats, 10-3, over nearly four minutes in the third quarter and got to within four, 32-28, with 3:20 to play in the period. Warnick scored three points and Caitlyn Stuart added a putback to send the Wildcats into the final period up 37-28.

Brook Songer (three points) and Brenna Rimer combined for five points to cut Bristol’s deficit to 43-36 with 3:29 remaining in the contest, but consecutive buckets from Brittany Davis and Hailey Scholten stop the comeback in its tracks for the Wildcats.

“A lot of it was floor spacing,” King said. “We did not have proper floor spacing. We’d get a steal or a turnover, take a long shot and they’d get the rebound go on a fast break. A lot of it is learning to play our press at 110 miles per hour and playing offense at 70 or 80 miles per hour.

“It’s hard to lose. It stinks to lose, but I’m happy for the girls. They worked hard tonight and have worked hard. There’s a lot to build on. We’re excited for the future.”

Stuart (10 rebounds, nine in the second half), Davis and Baugher all finished with six points.

“Stuart was a monster on the boards,” Yoder said. “That was a big difference. We also made a sub and Hailey Scholten got her first varsity minutes that mattered. She played her butt off. She gave us a spark and motivated some people.”

Rimer’s 16 points paced the Panthers while Brook Songer and Kendyl Switzer each tallied nine.

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