CLASS 1A

Weiner zones out, stops Guy-Perkins

— The Weiner Cardinals erased an early 15-point deficit and outscored Guy-Perkins 16-6 coming out of the halftime break en route to a 58-52 victory in the first round of the Class 1A girls state tournament Tuesday.

Allegra Melton scored nine of her game-high 24 points during that run that gave the Cardinals a 41-29 lead.

An early switch from man-to-man defense to a 1-3-1 zone and eventually to a 2-3 zone helped Weiner turn the game around.

“We prefer man-to-man but weren’t sure if we could keep their guards from driving around us,” Weiner Coach James Halitzka said. “But our guards did a good job of keeping them in front of us, and limited their offense to attempt to push the ball and try to get it to their post players.”

But Guy-Perkins was unable to get the ball inside consistently and often settled for wild shots.

The Thunderbirds pulled within 52-49 with a little more than two minutes to play, and they had two shots at getting even closer. After Olivia Craft scored to give Weiner a 53-49 lead, the Thunderbirds had a wide open look at a three-pointer but missed.

Weiner hit 6 of 8 free throws from that point to get the victory.

Lauren Hogan scored 20 and Allison Brown 10 points to lead Guy-Perkins, while Craft added 15 to Melton’s 24 for Weiner.

Sports, Pages 26 on 02/27/2013

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