Boone Central Coach Andy Imus called it a sluggish start. That may be an understatement.
The Cardinals came out ice cold at Twin River Tuesday, sinking only 4-of-26 field goal attempts in the first half, but stayed the course and rallied for a 41-34 victory over the Titans.
Twin River (1-5) built a 19-9 halftime advantage, only to see Boone find the range and rip the cords for 23 points in the third quarter alone, sparked by Mara Ranslem’s two three point buckets and seven points by Ashtyn Hedlund.
“We had good ball movement and the looks we wanted (in the first half), we just couldn’t get the ball in the hoop,” Imus acknowledged. “We talked at halftime about getting a couple to fall early and did just that in the third quarter. We had a good inside-out game going, and we were able to press them a little to speed up the game.
“The girls never panicked and continued to compete.”
There is a reason the Humphrey/Lindsay Holy Family Lady Bulldogs are considered #1 in Class D1 in some state ratings.
Undefeated Humphrey/LHF (6-0) visited Albion Saturday and used an early run to spur a 66-49 victory over Boone Central.
Bulldog senior Paige Beller was a whirling dervish in the opening eight minutes – rebounding, defending and scoring. Beller’s 15 points helped HLHF take a 23-9 lead, and it was an uphill battle for Boone (3-3) from there.
To the Cardinals credit, they never backed down and, after trailing 39-20 at intermission, outscored the visitors 29-27 in the second half.
“Biggest takeaway from playing a very good team is getting off to a better start. We had six early turnovers, quite a few on our very first possessions,” noted Imus. “That enabled them to utilize some 3/4 court press that caused us fits at times and took away from our aggressiveness on offense.
“We had a better second half and a couple nice runs where we cut the lead to 12. But a turnover or lapse in defensive rebounding hurt us from cutting it any further. After a slow start, we did a better job executing offensively. We need to continue to strive for better consistency, and that starts at tipoff.”
Further details in Print & Online editions of Albion News/Boone County Tribune
