Girls Basketball: Dublin Coffman holds off late Gahanna rally
Thursday, December 28, 2023
By Michael Rich
mrich@cbussports.com
Dublin Coffman’s Gwen Jenkins drives on Gahanna’s Bri Wright on Dec. 28 at Coffman. Photo: John Hulkenberg
Gwen Jenkins held herself accountable after the Dublin Coffman girls basketball team let a 23-point lead almost slip away.
Gahanna got as close as eight points in the final minute, but the Shamrocks held them off in a 53-43 win in a non-league game on Dec. 28 in Dublin.
Both Jenkins and Coffman coach Corey Kreinbrink agreed it was because the Rocks were too passive trying to handle the Lions’ pressure.
“We kind of struggle closing out games and I feel like it’s because we’re not aggressive handling the ball – myself included,” said Jenkins, a senior guard, who scored a game-best 22 points, going 10-for-10 at the foul line in the second half to lead the Rocks. “I think we’ve gotten better with that – today, we were able to finish the game – and I think we’ll continue to get better at it.”
Jenkins, who also had four rebounds and three assists, and Kylie Mast each hit a pair of 3-pointers in the first half as Coffman pushed the lead to 31-9.
Dublin Coffman’s Avery Mather attempts a contested shot against Gahanna on Dec. 28 at Coffman. Photo: John Hulkenberg
Addison McGrath scored a pair of baskets in the third quarter to help the Rocks push the lead to 43-20 with 1 minute, 42 seconds remaining for their largest lead of the game.
Mast and McGrath finished with 10 points apiece with Mast pulling down seven rebounds and McGrath four Coffman, which improved to 4-6.
From there, Gahanna turned up the pressure forcing nine Coffman turnovers on the strength of seven steals.
“I’m really happy with our effort – especially defensively,” Kreinbrink said. “We had a really good scouting report on a couple of their shooters (Haedyn Hull and Aaliyah Younger) that can really get going and cause some trouble.”
Coffman let a seven-point lead with under 2 minutes remaining slip away in a 48-47 loss to Reynoldsburg Dec. 15.
Dublin Coffman’s Cadence Scott lays in a shot against Gahanna’s Maegan Chrysler on Dec. 28 at Coffman. Photo: John Hulkenberg
“It’s something that we’ve got to continue to work on,” Kreinbrink said. “We don’t have a lot of players with varsity experience in late-game situations trying to hold leads. We’ve got to be a little more aggressive there late in the games. When we’re being over-conservative, it leads to turnovers.”
Ella Krumpak added seven points and three rebounds and Peyton Mather and Layla Miles had five rebounds each for Coffman, which won the rebounding battle 40-27.
Kya Jordan had 15 points and six rebounds and Aaliyah Younger added 12 points to lead the Lions, who fell to 4-5.
Kylee Jackson had seven points, six rebounds and a pair of blocks Bri Wright had six steals and Jaiden Silverman added four rebounds and three steals for Gahanna, which had 15 steals overall and forced 19 turnovers.
“I thought in the fourth quarter we came out and played with a lot of energy,” Gahanna coach Ronald Bailey said. “The first and second quarter – especially the second quarter – Dublin Coffman was pushing the tempo and getting straight line drives and easy 3s. Shout out to their coach for a great game plan. We just need to play with more energy (the whole game) like we played in that fourth quarter.”
Gahanna’s Maegan Chrysler shoots against Dublin Coffman on Dec. 28 at Coffman. Photo: John Hulkenberg