Kennedy Girls Come In From Cold : After Missing First 10 Shots, They Rout Chatsworth, 57-29

Kennedy High’s girls basketball team crushed Chatsworth, 57-29, extending its Valley League winning streak to 83 games Friday.

There was actually a time in the game when an upset seemed possible, however. The Chatsworth defense swarmed the Kennedy players in the first quarter. The first shot of the game, by Kennedy’s Diane DeCree, was swatted back in her face by Dianne Williams. The Golden Cougars couldn’t score in the first five minutes and missed their first 10 shots.

Chatsworth also forced two Kennedy turnovers. And the Chatsworth fans screamed and cheered. But the crowd failed to notice that the Chatsworth offense fared little better than Kennedy’s. It didn’t matter at the time, however. Kennedy was at least off the scoreboard and Chatsworth clung to a 3-0 lead midway in the opening quarter.

Kennedy finally scored on a layup by DeCree; the first of her game-high 26 points came with only three minutes left in the period and started the Kennedy rampage. The point machine really got rolling when forward Tisa Rush made three consecutive layups off steals in a 30-second span for a 9-5 lead at the end of the first quarter.

While Chatsworth looked spectacular early on defense, its offense looked more and more like recess on an elementary school playground.

“Their press just killed us,” Chatsworth Coach Ellian Williams said. “We couldn’t get any inside position against them. It was the first time I had ever seen Kennedy go five minutes without scoring, but we just couldn’t get the ball in the basket on offense.”

Chatsworth (7-2, 2-1 in league) couldn’t move the ball inside the key and made no shots inside five feet of the basket. Chatsworth made 2 of 13 shots in the first quarter, its only baskets coming on a pair of 20-footers by Nancy Steil.

Chatsworth sputtered in the second quarter, making 2 of 7 shots and having six turnovers, while Kennedy (11-3, 3-0) hit 8 of 16 shots and took a commanding 28-11 halftime lead.

“I told our team that the first half was a fluke,” Kennedy Coach Craig Raub said. “We didn’t really come here ready to play, but we don’t usually miss that many shots.”

In the second half, DeCree and Rush took over and had all of Kennedy’s scoring in the third period. DeCree had nine points and Rush added eight as Kennedy kept the massacre in full gear, building a 45-16 lead entering the fourth quarter.