Normal West vs Urbana: 5 Key Takeaways

Urbana took on Normal West at home tonight. Urbana came out a bit flat and could not catch a rhythm until the second quarter and Normal West capitalized on Urbana downfalls getting off to a quick start and led at the end of the 1st quarter 20-8. <strong>Olivia Dernosthenes </strong>lead all Normal West scorers with a game-high 18 points, she had her way getting into the lanes, creating easy scoring opportunities for herself and her teammates. Senior guard <strong>Tresoir Newson</strong> also chipped in with a much needed 17 points. The Tigers did fight back and got back into game shooting guard <strong>Chian Scott</strong> finally started to heat up in the second half and was unconscious at times from the 3 point lane. <strong>Amaya Bahler</strong> was the heart of the Tigers tonight with her outstanding defense and great playmaking. She even knocked down a clutch three in the 4th quarter to cut the normal west lead to 57-53, with 2 minutes left to go but Urbana came up a bit short, Normal West closed out the game on some key free throws and won 61-56. I. <strong>Normal West</strong> is a very tough, physical and very fundamental, they have no weakness and their guard play is fantastic getting to the paint consistently to create great scoring opportunities. <strong>Dernosthenes</strong> and <strong>Newson</strong> were outstanding in that regard. II. Going forward <strong>Normal West</strong> is extremely talented but I would like to see them shoot more three's. I believe that will create more driving lanes for their guard and will allow their post players to showcase their talent in space. <strong>Normal West</strong> is very deep and that can create havoc for any team. III. Urbana showed heart they didn't make a lot of shots in the 1st quarter and that came back to hunt them but they did fight back and played hard but just couldn't get over the hump. They got solid contributions from their bench tonight with <strong>Akierra Bufford</strong> coming back from a injury and playing a major role on both ends. Also, Urbana looked like they found a reliable, viable post player tonight <span style="font-family: Lato, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;font-size: 16px;font-style: normal;font-weight: 400"><strong>Ezri Vesely</strong> </span><span style="font-family: Lato, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;font-size: 16px;font-weight: 400">blocking shots and changing shots at the rim.</span> Urbana plays at Peoria Manual on Saturday and Normal West plays at Champaign Central on Saturday.