YC girls pull away with second half spurt

YATES CENTER — Defensive pressure and second-chance points turned the tables in favor of Yates Center High’s girls Tuesday.
The Wildcats scored 11 straight points in the fourth quarter turning a four-point lead into a 42-27 cushion, and coasting from there in a 47-35 win.
“Our press seemed to fluster them a little bit,” Wildcat coach Chris Wells said. “I’d bet that’s where we got half of our points.”
The Wildcats never trailed in the second half, but led only 24-23 late in the third quarter, when Bailie Chambers drained a pair of free throws and Mindi Holloway followed with a layup to push out to a five-point cushion.
The Cubs’ Lakota Wilson scored with 12 seconds in the period to cut the gap to three, but a key offensive rebound by Holloway and putback as the buzzer sounded re-established the Wildcats’ six-point margin.
When Yates Center wasn’t scoring in transition, it also received several second-chance points, Humboldt coach Sherri Nelson said.
“We need to do a much better job of blocking out,” Nelson said. “Those offensive rebounds hurt us tonight.”
Humboldt’s Karsyn Menzie scored just seconds into the fourth quarter to cut Yates Center’s lead to 31-27 before Kendra Leach’s free throw was followed by a basket by Shayna Karmann and two straight buckets by Emily Baker, the second a 3-pointer, put Yates Center ahead by 12.
Baker added another basket, and her free throw with 2:29 left gave Yates Center a 45-32 lead.
“Some nights we do well on offense,” Wells said. “Some nights our defense is better. We just need to put effort like this together all four quarters.”
“When other teams press, it tends to freak us out a little bit,” Nelson said.. “But the girls showed some fight. We played super hard. I was pleased with our effort.”
Breanna Kline drained a pair of 3-pointers for Humboldt in the last two minutes to keep Humboldt within shouting distance.
Baker poured in 16 points to lead Yates Center, followed by Holloway with 12 and Chambers with six.
Kline and Sheri Middleton each scored 10 points to pace Humboldt. Kline also had three assists and two steals; Middleton pulled in 10 rebounds as well. Menzie added six points and eight rebounds. Wilson chipped in with three steals. English had six rebounds and five steals. Whitney Strack had two steals.
Yates Center hosts Cherryvale Friday. Humboldt hosts Erie for homecoming.
Humboldt (9-7-9-10—35)
Yates Center (12-10-9-16—47)
Humboldt (FG/3pt-FT-F-TP): Kline 0/3-1-2-10, Middleton 4-2-4-10,m Hudlin 0-0-3-0, English 1-0-2-2, Strack 0-0-1-0, Wilson 2-0-0-4, Menzie 3-0-3-6, Umholtz 1-0-2-2, Morris 0-0-2-0. TOTALS: 11/3-4-18-35.
Yates Center (FG/3pt-FT-F-TP): Steinforth 1-1-3-3, Wendland 0-0-1-0, Rossillon 1-0-1-2, Baker 6/1-1-1-16, Holloway 3/1-3-3-12, Leach 1-1-4-3, Smith 0-1-0-1, Chambers 2-2-2-6. TOTALS: 16/2-9-15-47.