Patch's Nelley Loney, right, eyes the basket despite the coverage of Vilseck's Deraj McClinton. Patch captured the girls Division I title by beating Vilseck, 64-52. (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)
Patch's Nelley Loney, right, eyes the basket despite the coverage of Vilseck's Deraj McClinton. Patch captured the girls Division I title by beating Vilseck, 64-52. (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)
Patch's Bianca Lopez drives to the basket in the girls Division I title game against Vilseck. Patch won, 64-52 (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)
The Patch Lady Panthers celebrate their 64-52 Division I title after beating the Visleck Lady Cougars on Saturday night. (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)
MANNHEIM, Germany — The Patch Lady Panthers held off a surging Vilseck squad to capture the girls Division I European basketball championship Saturday night at Mannheim’s Benjamin Franklin Village Sports Arena.
Patch rode the hot hand of All-Europe junior guard Nelley Loney in a 64-52 victory.
Loney scored 30 points, matching her output Friday when the Lady Panthers toppled top-seed and defending D-I champ Wiesbaden. She also grabbed eight boards and had seven steals during Saturday’s game.
Although Loney usually stands out regardless of the opposition, first-year coach John Kohut was quick to share the credit.
“This was a big team effort…everyone contributed something,” Kohut said.
Vilseck didn’t let the Lady Panthers take top honors without a fight, though.
“We gotta make a run now,” said Vilseck coach Jim Hall to his team after falling behind 18-7 at the end of the first quarter.
His team responded as senior Thea Dunn scored points on one end and blocked Patch shots on the other. Eventually, the Lady Falcons took their first lead at 23-20 on a three-point shot by Vilseck junior Deraj McClinton.
But Patch was able to ride out the storm and respond with some quick points of its own.
“We just kept our heads up and played our game,” Loney said.
The Lady Panthers were able to close out the half with eight unanswered points thanks to foul trouble by Vilseck’s top scorer, senior Jamila Harvey, who picked up her fourth foul with almost three minutes remaining in the first half and had to sit on the bench for the rest of the half.
Soon after, Lady Falcon senior Theresa Trevino picked up her third and was no longer able to challenge Patch in the paint.
“It took the ball out of our hands,” Hall said about the early foul trouble.
Patch increased the tempo of the game in the second half and applied consistent double-team pressure on Vilseck - forcing some timely fourth-period turnovers which proved too much for the Lady Falcons to overcome.
Vilseck’s top scorers were Harvey with 18 and Dunn with 13. McClinton also added 12 points for the Lady Falcons.
Other leading players for Patch were freshman Johanna Quinn with 11 points and 11 rebounds and senior Bianca Lopez, who finished with 11 points, six rebounds, nine steals and four assists.
