DANVILLE – East Knox girls basketball coach Chip Pozderac is rarely at a loss for words. But after her Bulldogs beat rival Danville 51-43 on Wednesday, Feb. 3, on its home floor, she found herself struggling to find them.
It was East Knox’s second win in a week over the Blue Devils in Knox Morrow Athletic Conference play, after the Bulldogs won by 15 on Jan. 27 in Howard.
It was also East Knox’s first win in Danville since Dec. 17, 2011, and their first season-sweep of the Blue Devils since that 2011-12 season.
How did the Bulldogs do it?
“I don’t know,” Pozderac replied.
There was a pause before Pozderac gathered an explanation.
“These kids play with their heart,” she finally said. “They just play with their heart and they do everything that we ask them to do.”
“We all are a family,” senior post Madi Annett said. “We work so hard together and we all want it. So we push everybody to do their best and we’re there for everybody. We just want the best for each other and we work together so well.”
East Knox scored eight of the first 10 points of the fourth quarter to take control and never relented.
Alexandria Magers went for 17 points, eight rebounds and four assists to lead the Bulldogs (8-11, 6-7). She also went seven-for-eight at the foul line, including a perfect six-of-six in the fourth quarter to help East Knox pull away.
Laura Keith extended the Danville defense with four 3-pointers. She scored 14 points, including eight in the second quarter. She beat the buzzer with a 3-pointer from a couple of steps inside the half-court line to give East Knox a 23-21 lead at the half.
Shanda Melick had 12 points and nine rebounds for the Bulldogs. She scored five points during a 7-0 rally late in the third quarter to give East Knox a 33-29 lead.
That came after Danville’s first sustained rally of the game when it scored the first six points of the half to take a four-point lead, which had been the largest lead of the game by either team to that point.
As for Arnett, she was a force on the boards with eight rebounds to go along with four points.
Joci Totten had five boards, four assists, a pair of steals and four points.
“It’s such a fun game to play because we’re rivals,” Arnett said. “We haven’t swept them back-to-back like that in forever. It feels really good.”
For Danville coach Matt Proper, the game came down to the defensive end.
“We left too many people open and uncontested,” he said. “We didn’t communicate well and they took advantage of it. It’s hard to build momentum when we can’t get stops.
“I thought some of the things we tried to establish in practice didn’t carry over in game play. It’s something that we’ll have to keep working on.”
Ella Proper had 12 points, eight rebounds, two assists and a pair of steals; and Brooklyn Hess and Alenah Boeshart added 10 points apiece to pace the Devils (10-7, 6-6). Hess also tallied four assists, four steals, three rebounds and a pair of blocks; and Boeshart had five rebounds and two steals.
Camie Newbold chipped in six points and six boards for Danville.
Editor's note: In the Jan. 30, 2021 story titled, "Bulldogs outrun Blue Devils 65-50," it was stated that a 2019 win was East Knox's first over Danville since 2004. It was later discovered that East Knox defeated Danville twice during the 2011-12 season. That story has been updated with that clarification.
