Bullettes' pressure dismantles HTC

FORT MADISON - Holy Trinity’s girls basketball team couldn’t duplicate Mediapolis’ pressure defense in practice.
The real thing was a lot more daunting.
It took a long time for the Crusaders to get a point in Tuesday’s 62-21 loss to the 10th-ranked (Class 3A) Bullettes at Shottenkirk Gym.
Mediapolis (10-0 overall, 7-0 SEISC South Division) led 29-0 before Adalyn Kruse banked in a shot with 6:32 left in the second quarter.
“It’s hard to simulate,” Holy Trinity coach Shawn Hopper said. “We tried, but we couldn’t put on that kind of pressure. That’s the best press we’re going to see all year, until we play them again.”
Hopper looked for small victories in the defeat, and he found one in the fact that the Crusaders (2-6, 2-5) outscored the Bullettes 12-11 in the second quarter.
“We showed some flashes of some good things,” Hopper said. “Nobody wants to lose, but we can learn from this. We’ll go back, we’ll watch the video, and then we’ll get ready for Thursday night (a game at WACO).”

The Bullettes backed off the press at times in the first half.
“But even when they’re not pressing, they’re still up in you on defense in the half-court,” Hopper said. “They pick you up as soon as you cross midcourt. It was hard to get into a rhythm.”
The Crusaders also didn’t have an answer for how to defend Mediapolis. They played a 2-3 zone, but the Bullettes made seven 3-pointers in the first 10 minutes.
“Against this team, you know you can only make so many adjustments defensively,” Hopper said. “I knew we couldn't play a man-to-man. When you know going in that defensively that you're going to give up some threes, you just kind of hope maybe they don't shoot whatever percentage they shot.”
Bryn Wright led Mediapolis with 17 points. Amelia Grier had 12.
Elizabeth Griffin had seven points to lead the Crusaders. Makayla Simpson had six points. Kruse had five.
“You can see that we’re still improving,” Hopper said. “I'm confident moving forward. We knew this was going to be a rough game. You hope for the best, you concede nothing. But I thought we had some little victories here and there, and you take those and move on.”