Lincoln boxes out Forthan, Grant Saturday, January 12, 2008

Aliyah Green (left) and Iris Lerch box out 6-foot, 4-inch freshman Krystal Forthan in the first quarter of the Cardinals' game Jan. 11 against Grant.

Lincoln survived its first real test of the PIL season Jan. 11 when they hosted Grant. After giving up the first four points of the game, the Cardinals caught up and led the rest of the way en route to a 53-41 win.

It was my first chance to see Grant this year, and their young star Krystal Forthan. A 6-foot, 4-inch freshman, it isn't surprising that Forthan has already been receiving a lot of attention (e.g. here and here) from the press and scouts.

I haven't seen the boxscore from the game, but Lincoln seemed to contain Forthan pretty well. She did make one nifty move to split a back-court trap set by Paige Harmier and Alexis Gleason in the second quarter, but she didn't play as much of a role as I had expected.

(right) Grant senior Shaquala West runs through the Lincoln defense Jan. 11.

As usual, Patti Polk scored a bunch of points for the Generals, but Lincoln's biggest challenge was stopping Shaquala West. West is typically the third force for Grant (after Polk and Forthan), but she seemed to be having an especially good night on Friday.

In the end, of course, the Cardinals ended up on top. Below-average offense was supported by above-average defense as they grabbed the vast majority of rebounds at both ends of the court.

The win was Lincoln's first home victory of the season, improving their conference record to 4-0 (10-4 overall). Their next game will be another tough test against Jefferson, the top-ranked 5A team in the state.

Friday's loss dropped Grant to (2-1, 8-5).