Any tension from the girls varsity team was quickly dismissed as Tuesday night’s game came to a close. 

The girls defeated Chanute High School 48-18.

The name of the game for the Cardinals was defense. Guards Mackenzie Mayer and Abby Watson applied constant pressure to the opposing players so that Chanute was wasting valuable energy trying to score a basket. 

Head coach Brandon Parker had one word to describe the game: “Fun.”

“It’s playoff basketball at this point so you want to come out and get after it. After the first couple minutes, our girls did a very nice job especially defensively,” Parker said.

By the end of the first quarter, the score was 11-8 still giving the Cardinals some time to settle in and find their groove. 

Sophomore Kenzie Yoder thought her team’s defense didn’t start the game as well as she would’ve hoped.

“I think our defense was OK. It started off kind of rough, and our offensive passes were bad in the first half, but we quickly cleaned it up and got into the feel of it,” Yoder said.

Cleaning up was exactly what happened in the second half. The score was 24-10 and the Cardinals would not let off the pressure.

Senior Harper Schreiner, much like her coach, was proud of the win and how the defensive players gave Chanute a hard time.

“It took us a little bit of time, but once we got going, we got great ball movement and I think we were hitting shots and working well,” Schreiner said.

To celebrate the big win, the team gathered at Wendy’s after the game and cooled off with some much-needed Frosties.

The team is now excited for their next match at 7 p.m. Friday where they will play at home against Paola. 

“We are now past game one and now we are looking towards game two. Still keeping that mindset of just one day at a time,” Schreiner said.

Reach reporter William Crow at [email protected].

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