Lady Cubs and Eagles lose
PLEASANTON — Uniontown High’s girls found out quickly why their opponents from Central Heights were so highly regarded.
The Vikings blitzed their way to a 17-3 lead after one quarters in second round of the Pleasanton Blu-Jay Mid-Season Tournament.
Central Heights rolled from there in a 49-22 victory.
Elsewhere in tournament play, Crest High’s girls picked up their first win of the season in a 24-21 win over Altoona-Midway High. Humboldt, meanwhile, fell to host Pleasanton 54-31.
“We knew they were pretty good, and we knew they had size,” Uniontown head coach Ken Holt said of Central Heights. “But they were better than we thought. We didn’t match up well at all.”
The defeat drops Uniontown to the third-place game today against the loser of Jayhawk-Linn and Prairie View at 5:30 p.m. in the Pleasanton High School south gymnasium.
Central Heights continued its torrid play to the break, extending its lead to 30-8.
Uniontown righted its ship in the second half but could not cut into the lead.
“I will say that our girls played hard and never quit,” Holt said. “For that I am very proud of them.”
Hayden Rathbun and Breanna Esslinger shared high scoring honors for the Lady Eagles with six points apiece. Rathbun also had six rebounds.
Katelin Horstick scored 12 and Marissa Cox 10 to lead the Vikings.
CONFIDENCE and a willingness to grasp the “team” concept paid off for the Lady Lancers, head coach Terry Messenger said.
“We just executed our game plan,” Messenger said. “That was the difference.”
The game was nip and tuck for the first three quarters — Altoona-Midway actually led 12-6 at halftime — before Crest slowly took control. The Lady Lancers crept to within 16-14, then pulled in front early in the fourth quarter.
Crest’s lead stood at five points by the midway point of the fourth quarter, Messenger said.
“We had a couple of things happen, where we dribbled the ball off our feet, or we missed a shot,” Messenger said. “The girls got that look like they were waiting for the other shoe to drop, but I called timeout and told them to look at the scoreboard. We were winning, and were going to make Altoona-Midway come back and beat us. They settled down and played well from there.”
Ashley Catt scored eight points, while Katrina Strickler and Kolbie Gilliland scored five apiece for Crest. The Lancers will take on host Pleasanton in the fifth-place game today at 2:30 p.m. in the south gymnasium.
DarShawna Lour scored seven points to pace the Jets.
UNLIKE earlier contests, when Humboldt struggled to score, the problem this night was on the defensive end.
Pleasanton led Humboldt16-10 after one period and 28-15 at the break. The Blu-Jays were on top 39-22 after three quarters.
Sheri Middleton paced Humboldt with 10 points. Kindahl Young added eight.
Johnneah Saulsberry led Pleasanton with 14. Savannah Smith scored 10.
Uniontown (3-5-10-4—22) (FG/3-pt): Rathbun 3-0-0-6, Esslinger 0/2-0-0-6, Shinn 1-1-2-3, Harper 0/1-0-0-3, Jurgenson 1-0-3-2, Ridge 1-0-0-2, Ulray 0-0-1-0, Aikins 0-0-1-0. TOTALS: 6/3-1-7-22.
Central Heights (17-13-11-8—49) (FG/3-pt): Horstick 6-0-1-12, Cox 3-4-1-10, Wuertz 3/1-0-0-9, Swendson 0/3-0-0-9, Schulte 2-0-1-4, Cotter 2-0-0-4, Bell 0-0-1-0, Rickerson 0-1-4-1. TOTALS: 16/4-5-8-49.
Crest (6-0-8-10—24) (FG/3-pt): Catt 1/1-3-1-8, B. Strickler 1-0-4-2, K. Strickler 1-3-2-5, Ku. Gilliland 2-0-4-4, Ko. Gilliland 2-1-3-5. TOTALS: 7/1-7-14-24.
Altoona-Midway (8-4-4-5—21): Spears 2-0-5-4, VanWinkle 3-0-3-6, LaCrone 1-2-1-4, Lour 3-1-1-7, Reaves 0-0-3-0. TOTALS: 9-3-13-21.
