MIDDLETOWN — Great defense has served the Middletown Mustangs well this season, especially during their most recent seven-game winning streak. It’s frightening to think where this team might be with an offense that was as consistent.
On Monday, that offense ran hot and cold in a 49-14 non-league victory over College Park of Pleasant Hill during non-league varsity girls basketball action at Middletown High School.
And the defense? It was impressive.
Between the play of lightning-quick guards Ellie Bazzano and Sophie Kucer, the Mustangs were a nightmare for the Falcons, who also were beaten badly on the offensive and defensive boards.
“With her and Sophie up front in our defense teams put in a long 32 minutes against those two,” Middletown head coach Anthony Bazzano said of the play of his daughter, Ellie, a senior, and the sophomore Kucer. “Those two can annoy you to death and make it pretty tough on the other team’s point guard. They just wear you down.”
The Mustangs didn’t have an official number for the number of Bazzano steals against the Falcons (4-15), but it was at least 10, probably more.
“She was really good on defense all game long and she hit a couple of 3s there for us,” Bazzano said of his daughter’s play. “She gets after it.”
While the Mustangs were shutting out the Falcons for the first 13 minutes of the game – their first field goal and points didn’t come until 3:01 left in the second quarter – Middletown’s offense labored to build a 13-0 lead. The Mustangs missed their first eight shots from the field during a 6-0 first quarter. They heated up a bit in the second quarter while taking a 16-4 halftime lead, but it wasn’t until the second half that the offense began to function as a cohesive unit.
“Like I’ve told you before, this is probably the best defense I’ve ever had,” Bazzano said. “But it’s been like this on offense for the last three or four games. We’re pressing a little too much when things don’t go our way.”
Bazzano said Middletown made no big adjustments at halftime although someone certainly flipped the switch on the offense into the on position.
“For whatever reason we came out and played great,” Bazzano said of his team’s 24-point third-quarter explosion.
The Mustangs (12-7) hit eight of their nine first shots, scoring down low – Hanna Morris and Emily Santiago combined for eight points in the paint – and from way out – Ellie Bazzano sank two 3-pointers and Kassi Agapoff and Abbey Brown each had one – while building a 40-10 lead.
Middletown led by as many as 37 points in the fourth quarter.
Agapoff, Middletown’s standout point guard, led all scorers with 14 points while Bazzano, Morris and Santiago finished with eight apiece. Alyssa Hart had six.
The Mustangs face their most critical test of the season Tuesday night at home against Cloverdale (7-0), which beat Middletown 55-35 on Jan. 2 in the league opener for both teams at Cloverdale. Middletown hasn’t lost since.
“We know what we’re getting and we’ll be prepared,” Bazzano said. “We can’t let Tehya (Bird) do to us what she did the last time we faced her, score 30 points.”
“For three quarters in that game we played about as good as we’ve played in a league game,” Bazzano said. “Outside of the third quarter we did a real good job.”
Middletown trailed Cloverdale only 22-19 at halftime in their first league meeting, but Bird went off for 19 points in the third quarter as the Eagles surged ahead 41-23.
“We’ve added a few new wrinkles since then,” Bazzano said. “Hopefully they work out.
Beating Cloverdale would elevate Middletown into a first-place tie atop the North Central League I standings.
In Monday’s junior varsity action, Middletown improved to 16-3 overall with a 49-15 victory over College Park. Jessica Pollack and Georgia Guerrero led the way with 12 points apiece, Brooklyn Huffman contributed eight points and Olivia Kucer had six.
Middletown led 26-7 at the half.
