Mustangs trample Huskies, 44-27
Blue Valley North’s play on both ends of the court proved to be too much for BVNW to handle as the Huskies would go on to be defeated by BVN, 44-27. Senior Evan Bail finished with a team-high 8 points.
January 13, 2018
In their last game against the Mustangs, the Huskies had arguably their best quarter of the season as they led by 25-2 after the first quarter, but would eventually go on to be defeated by Blue Valley North, 54-36. However, in Friday night’s matchup on the road at Blue Valley North, the script was flipped for the Huskies.
After scoring two quick baskets including a jumper by senior forward Sarah Martin and a layup by senior guard Kate Kaufman, the Huskies jumped out to an early 4-0 lead. However, instead of dominating the rest of the first quarter like their last matchup earlier this season, the Huskies would find themselves struggling to end the quarter. After the layup by Kaufman, Blue Valley North would piece together an 11-0 run including two three-pointers.
At the end of the first quarter, the Huskies would find themselves trailing the Mustangs, 14-6. Much of the struggles in the first quarter for BVNW included a press by Blue Valley North which caused turnovers, the Huskies finished with 15 on the night, and sped up the Huskies. Head coach Brian Bubalo said the girls came out looking tense in the first quarter.
“They were changing from a half court trap to a three-quarter press and we were not recognizing, and I had to use timeouts to try to get us organized,” Bubalo said. “We were just really tight in the first quarter; we were really pumped up.”
While the Huskies were hoping to mount a comeback similar to that of the Mustangs in their last matchup, the girls basketball team found no such luck. BVN was able to carry on their momentum from the first quarter to the beginning of the second quarter. The Mustangs started out the second quarter on an 8-0 run. Senior guard Becky Delgado was able to end this streak with 2:32 left in the quarter by making 2 free throws.
The Huskies went into the half down 28-10 to the Mustangs. Senior Evan Bail, who scored 8 points, said the team’s offensive performance in the first half was hindered by being sped up.
“In the first half we were just really rushing everything,” Bail said. “We weren’t really running anything that well.”
While the third quarter has been the achilles heel for the team for the majority of the season, the team showed resiliancy coming out of halftime and slowly chipped away at the Mustangs lead as they were able to cut Blue Valley North’s lead to 30-22. Bubalo said the team was close to reclaiming the lead, but needed to hit a couple more shots to help gain momentum.
“This time I was very happy with the way we came out and battled back,” Bubalo said. “The third quarter was encouraging, we kept fighting, we kept working and we did work ourselves to back within 10.”
After BVNW cut the lead down to 8 points, the Mustangs started hitting shots early in the fourth quarter and pulled away from the Huskies. Ultimately, BVN would come out on top against BVNW for the second time this season.
With the loss on the road, the Huskies fall to 3-6 on the season. The girls basketball team will play in a tournament in Pittsburg, Kan. from Jan. 17 to Jan. 19.
