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Schools

Zumwalt West Crushes Holt 53-26

With the loss, Holt fell to 11-5 overall.

basketball coach Monica Tritz has a running feud with her six-foot-one inch senior center Marina Laramie.    

"She thinks she's a 3-point shooter," Tritz says. "She loves those outside jumpers. But we really need her in close to the basket."    

Actually, Laramie can score from anywhere on the court as she proved Tuesday night.    

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The Indiana State University signee pumped in 20 points and grabbed seven rebounds to lead the Jaguars to an impressive 53-26 win over Wentzville Holt in a Gateway Athletic Conference South Division battle at West.    

The Jags improved to 14-2 overall and 2-0 in league play with their sixth successive win.    

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Holt, one of the surprise teams of the GAC this season, fell to 11-5 and 2-1.     Laramie scored 12 points in the first 12 minutes to help her club out to a 28-8 lead. Only two of those points came from inside the paint.    

"Coach has been yelling at me telling me to get down low more," Laramie said. "But, I like to shoot from the outside."    

Tritz and Laramie have butted heads on the subject throughout the season although Tritz appears to be giving her standout a little more leeway.   

"She still shoots from too far outside sometimes," Tritz said with a smile.   

Laramie was deadly from mid-range against Holt. She connected on five of her first six shots from beyond 12 feet.   

Still, Laramie knows her strength lies in close to the basket, at least at the high school level.   

"I've been trying to work on getting down low more," Laramie says.   

So far, Laramie has found a way to keep her coach happy and drop in the occasional long-range bomb as well. She is averaging 18 points and nine rebounds per game.    

The muscular redhead is one of the key reasons for West's successful start. The Jaguars only losses have come against state-ranked toughies St. Joseph's Academy and Lafayette.   

Laramie's two-way game was simply too much for the Indians to handle on Tuesday.   

"There's a reason she's going to Indiana State," said Holt coach Rich Binning. "She can do a lot of things out there."    

Laramie received plenty of help from fellow seniors Kelsey Kingsborough, Kylie Ellison and Paige Westbrook. Kingsborough and Ellison were particularly effective at the defensive end holding Holt's two six-footers - Brianne Rigg and Julie Buckles in check. Westbrook ran the offense perfectly and tallied eight first-half points to help put the game away early.   

"They had a mission tonight, they just came out and played hard," Tritz said.    Laramie said the players were ready for the upstart Indians.   

"In the locker room before the game we were focusing on the scouting reports and what we needed to do to get the job done," she said. "We knew this wasn't going to be an easy game. We knew they would come out and be ready and we had to be ready too."    

The Jags used a 10-2 run late in the first quarter to take command 17-6. Westbrook scored six points, four off turnovers and Laramie established her dominance at the defensive end. Westbrook recorded a steal and driving layup to push the lead to 15-6 before Katie Hare closed out the period with baseline jumper.   

West applied the defensive clamps in the second period holding the Indians to just two points on 1-of-8 shooting. Holt did not score over the final 6:31 of the half.

Five different players tallied in the Jags' 19-2 blitz that gave them a 36-8 cushion heading into the break. Kingsborough began the run with an eight-footer.

Freshman Lexi Moe, sister of University of Missouri football standout T.J. Moe, added a key basket and Hare capped off the blitz with a short jumper.    

The Jags pushed the lead to 34 points in the third quarter. A running clock was in effect during the first seven minutes of the final period.    

"We came out focused and did what we needed to do," Laramie said. "We just kept working, even with a lead, we kept going."    

The one-sided loss put a temporary damper on what has been an impressive turnaround for the Indians, who lost 21 games in each of the past two seasons. They were hoping to prove they could compete among the GAC elite on Tuesday. But West had other ideas.   

"They said to us, "We're not going to let you into our club, not just yet," Holt Coach Rich Binning said. "We're trying to re-establish ourselves and prove that we can play with anybody. We might not be there yet, but we're getting there."   

Junior guard Riley Reddin led Holt with eight points. Danielle Rhubart canned a 3-pointer just 79 seconds into the game to give the Indians a short-lived 3-0 lead.   

"We learned a lesson from a real good team tonight," Binning said. "This should help make us better too."

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