The Cardinals girls basketball team used defense to overcome a rough shooting night and secure a 36-23 win over Mill Valley Tuesday night.
Senior Lainey Orr said she was proud of the team’s effort on the defensive side of the ball against the Jaguars.
“Our guards did a huge job at pressuring them and making those passes hard, and then in the posts we were just trying to get them out of there,” Orr said.
Head coach Brandon Parker said playing good defense is a focal point for the team and it showed against Mill Valley.
“We know our bread and butter has to be on the defensive end. So, to give up 23 points to a team that’s got some talented scorers and shooters, you know, at the end of the day, we feel good about that,” Parker said. “We’ve got some tenacious defenders that get out and can really make it uncomfortable on a ball handler. We do a pretty good job of helping each other.”
The Cardinals started the game well offensively as they took an early 7-0 lead about midway through the first quarter, but the Cardinals only scored two points the rest of the quarter to take a 9-6 lead into the second period.
The Cardinals built another seven-point lead in the second quarter following a senior Jayla Erpelding basket and foul. However, the Jaguars closed out the first half by going on an 8-0 scoring run to take a 15-14 lead into the locker room.
The Cardinals knew they had to be better in the second half if they were going to find a way to win.
“We weren’t that aggressive in the first half and coach told us that, and we knew it,” Orr said. “So, we just were like, ‘OK, we got to be more aggressive.’ We stayed together, talked about it, and then we just performed.”
Senior Kenzie Yoder said if the team could be more aggressive on the boards, then they would be able to win despite not lighting up the scoreboard.
“We knew that we had to come out and really focus in, and get our rebounding in,” she said. “We had to be more aggressive on our rebounding and not give up second chance points. I think that really kind of took out the shooting factor.”
The Cardinals opened the second half with six straight points. Yoder made a nice pass to Orr under the basket for an easy layup, which forced Mill Valley to burn a timeout.
Senior Parker Long hit a 3-pointer to give the Cardinals a six-point lead going into the fourth quarter.
In the fourth quarter, the Cardinals built their lead to double digits after freshman Brynn Deterding hit eight free throws down the stretch, ultimately closing out the game.
Deterding led the team in scoring with 14 on the night followed by Long who had eight. Yoder finished the game with six points while Orr had five on the night.
Parker said this win is proof that the Cardinals have a chance to be a great team.
“If you want to be a really good team, you got to win in multiple ways,” Parker said. “So, credit to the kids for continuing to stay in it even though it wasn’t going well. They didn’t back away from good shots that we’d like for them to take, and then get some to knock down and then put that with the defensive effort, and we were able to pull away with the win.”
Hear more about the win from Yoder, Orr and Parker on the Kaw Valley State Bank post-game show.
On the boys side, the team struggled against the size of Mill Valley, which caused them to lose their first game of the season 66-35.
“The effort was there tonight, they were just bigger and stronger than us. It’s hard to compete against that,” junior Caden Stedry said.
Head coach Kyle Deterding said the good news for the Cardinals is that they won’t have to play Mill Valley again this year.
“I can’t imagine we’ll play anybody better than them this year. I think that’s probably one of the top teams in the state,” Deterding said. “It was a great opportunity for us to go in and try to compete. If you don’t do things right against them, they will let you know pretty quick. So, they let us know a lot of things we need to work on, which is good.”
Senior Logan Sullivan led the way for the Cardinals as he had 17 points on the night and hit five 3s. Stedry had seven points followed by junior Connor Watson who had five.
It’s a quick turn around for the Cardinals as the team plays Atchison Thursday night.
Junior Errol Siemon said the team needs to be ready for another big team.
“They’re going to be bigger, faster, stronger than us, but again it comes down to who wants it more,” Siemon said.
The girls will take the home court at 6 p.m. while the boys will tip off at 7:30 p.m. against the Phoenix.
Reach reporter Jack Denebeim at [email protected].
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