Published: January 12, 2008 12:30 am         

Defense keys ACM’s seventh-straight win

TAKOMA PARK — The offense was a little sluggish, but the second half defense was superb as Allegany College rolled to its seventh straight win, 63-32, over Montgomery-Takoma Park in a Maryland JUCO game Friday evening.

Melissa Ford scored 16 points and had six rebounds and four steals, and Kacey Kahl added seven points, seven rebounds, six steals and four assists for the Trojans (11-1 overall, 4-1 Maryland JUCO).

Alicia Sheppard had 10 points, Lisa Byer six points, six rebounds and five steals, and Lindsey Holliday dished out five assists.

Allegany got off to a slow start, then pulled away a bit for a 42-21 lead at the break. It was then that coach Jerry Rice called for better defensive play, and he got it from his nationally-ranked defense.

Allegany, ranked No. 1 this week among Division II teams in the country in scoring defense, allowing an average of 43 points per game, gave up only 11 in the second half.

“We got off to a really slow start and gave them some confidence early,’’ Rice said. “It was not a particularly pretty game early. I challenged the girls at halftime to play better defense, and they certainly did.

“We played the second half with much more intensity on defense. It was a great team win, and we had a lot of girls play very well for us coming off the bench. That was a key and proved to be one of the differences tonight.”

Tiesha Atkins scored 13 points for Takoma Park.

The Trojans play another conference game on Wednesday, at Prince George’s, at 5 p.m.