HUMBOLDT — Early defensive struggles put Humboldt High’s girls in a hole they could not escape Friday.
The Lady Cubs trailed 20-7 by the end of the first quarter and could never mount a comeback against visiting Neodesha High, dropping a 46-15 decision.
The loss came in Humboldt’s season opener.
Neodesha kept up the pressure in the second and third quarters, outscoring Humboldt 13-5 in the second and 10-3 in the third.
A running clock in the fourth quarter put the kibosh on both teams’ scoring, with Neodesha scoring the three only points of the period on a field goal and free throw.
“We’re working harder than we did last year, but we’ve got to learn to turn and run,” Humboldt head coach Jeff Wilkerson said,“We’ve got to get better and anticipating what’s going on. But we’ll come along and get better.
Morgan Morris paced Humboldt with five points, followed by Taylyn Wells with four. No other statistics were available.
Kelsa Noeller did most of the damage for Neodesha early on, scoring nine of her game-high 15 points in the first quarter. Aricka Pearson scored 10.
Humboldt opens its preseason tournament on Tuesday at home against Uniontown.
Neodesha (20-13-10-3—46): Paxson 0-0-2-0, Ivey 2-3-0-7, Wheeler 4-0-2-8, Ar. Pearson 5-0-2-10, Harper 1-2-1-4, Farmer 0-0-2-0, Granger 0-0-1-0, Noeller 7-1-2-15, Al. Pearson 1-0-1-2. TOTALS: 20-6-14-46.
Humboldt (7-5-3-0—15) (FG/3-pt): Wells 0/1-1-5-4, Strack 1-0-4-2, Young 1-0-1-2, Crays 0-0-1-0, Middleton 1-0-3-2, Morris 2-1-1-5, Riebel 0-0-1-0. TOTALS: 5/1-2-16-15.
Lady Cubs struggle in opener
