YATES CENTER — It wasn’t exactly what Coach Eric Busteed would describe as a work of art.
Yates Center High’s girls struggled mightily on offense Tuesday.
“We couldn’t get out of our own way sometimes,” Busteed said.
But what Yates Center lacked in shotmaking abilities, the team still had one decided advantage over its visitors from Marmaton Valley — its height.
The taller hosts were able to convert a number of second chance points in the first half to take a 16-8 lead into the locker room.
A renewed vigor, and improved ball movement in the second half, kept Yates Center firmly in control of what became a 32-18 win.
The victory comes in the first round of Yates Center’s midseason tournament.
“We didn’t play that well tonight,” Busteed said. “We didn’t have school (Monday) and we didn’t have a great practice, and that kind of led to today. But when we got out of our fog and started moving the ball around, things started happening. I was happy with our energy level in the second half. Our movement was much better.”
Yates Center was stuck on an 8-6 lead for what seemed like forever late in the first quarter before junior standout Caitlyn Cummings took matters into her own hands, corralling a pair of offensive rebounds before scoring on a putback to push Yates Center’s lead to 11-6 by the end of the quarter.
She scored again in the second period, but aside from a field goal from teammate Aubrey Chambers, and a score from Marmaton Valley’s Evva Sander, that was it for the first-half offense.
“We’re getting better on the offensive side, but we’re not where we want to be yet,” Marmaton Valley head coach Adam Borth said. “If you ask the girls, they’ll tell you the same thing.”
Still, Marmaton Valley’s execution was a step up from the team’s 0-for-20 struggles in the first half last week against Northeast.
“We’ve gotta eliminate the turnovers,” Borth said. “We had some turnovers tonight against their press that were unneeded, sometimes unforced.”
Yates Center’s improved ball movement opened the door for junior Jayda Rice to knock down a pair of jumpers to stretch the lead to 24-10 by the end of the third.
The ball movement — to take pressure off of Cummings on offense — is vital to Yates Center’s continued improvement, Busteed said.
“It’s beginning to come around,” Busteed said. “Jayda had a pretty good game.”
