Salem’s trapping defense sets tempo in convincing win over Novi

Trailing Novi 12-10 after the first quarter Tuesday night, Salem’s girls basketball team set a trap — actually, multitudes of them — to change the pace of the game.

Attacking Novi ball-handlers with two defenders — the Rocks got in the Wildcats’ face so much, the visitors could probably smell what flavor of gum the Salem players were chewing — Salem outscored their overmatched opponents 16-4 in the second quarter before taking a 38-23 lead into the final eight minutes on the way to a 43-29 victory.

Salem improved to 5-6 overall and 1-3 in the KLAA West Division. Novi slipped to 1-7 and 0-4, respectively.

Trap masters

“By trapping like we did, we wanted to speed up the tempo, speed the game up,” said Salem Head Coach Rod Wells. “The aggressive defense energized us, too, and it forced Novi to put the ball in people’s hands who didn’t want it, which was our game plan.”

Salem was led by Stella Stotz, who scored 13 points and dished out several assists. Julia Steinhebel added 12 and Lillian Saab added 8 points.

Novi was led by Mady Rabe, who scored nine.

The Rocks built a double-digit lead for the first time with 2:12 left in the first half when Stotz finished a coast-to-coast layup while getting fouled to her team ahead 27-16.

Salem refocuses after first quarter

Wells said he had a multi-layered message following his team’s lackluster first quarter.

“I told them to play more physical, more aggressive and to not let them run their plays as easily as they were,” Wells said. “We started getting after them in the second quarter. The girls responded well.

“We have a very young team, so we’re still trying to figure things out,” said Wells, whose roster includes four sophomores who play big-time minutes and only three seniors.

“The nice thing is we have eight or nine players who can really help us, so that allows us to be a little more aggressive on defense.”

Ed Wright can be reached at 734-664-4657 or edwright@socialhousenews.com.