HUMBOLDT — Every once in a while, a team’s best performance runs head-on with a team’s worst performance.
That is the only way to describe Humboldt’s 69-21 defensive dismantling of Marmaton Valley on Tuesday.
The Lady Cubs could do no wrong as they kept the Lady Wildcats from scoring double-digits in any quarter including allowing just a single point in the fourth.
“I think we needed a good, well-rounded win going into break,” Humboldt head coach Aubrey Jones said. “Everyone competed in some fashion, everyone got to play a lot of minutes and the girls were having fun. When they’re having fun that’s what it’s all about.”
The Wildcats were tormented by turnovers.
“Our effort was not there,” Wildcat head coach Sherri Bagshaw said. “From tip-off to the middle of the fourth quarter there was no effort. We didn’t execute well, we made insane turnovers. We let them dictate the tempo of this game and we set them up for success.”
And the thing was, it never really let up. Even when Jones cleared her bench in the second half, the defensive tenacity and aggressiveness stayed strong.
“We really work to make sure when subs go in, there isn’t a drop-off,” Jones said. “They did a great job doing that tonight. I was really pleased with everybody’s effort.”
Aricah McCall had 16 points for the Lady Cubs while Maggie Johnson had 11.
Both teams now head into the winter break in two completely different situations.
After a rocky start to the season, the Lady Cubs have won two straight and seem to have regained their defensive swagger.
“We need to make sure we’re staying in shape,” Jones said of the time off. “We have some things we need to fix on the offense we run and the defense,” Jones said. “There is always room for improvement.”
Meanwhile, the Marmaton Valley girls have lost four-straight — all by double-digits — after winning their season opener versus Uniontown. Bagshaw wants her team to find their spirit and tenacity since it’s apparently disappeared over the past several games.
“We really took some steps backward tonight,” Bagshaw said. “So we need to come into practice tomorrow and use this game to get better. We just don’t have a lot of confidence. We just accept losing and that’s not okay.”
JUNIOR VARSITY RESULTS
The Humboldt JV girls won 38-8 over Marmaton Valley.
Humboldt (20-18-25-6—69) (2pt/3pt-FT-F-TP) McCall 7/0-2-0-16, M. Johnson 2/2-1-0-11, Wilhite 3/0-2-1-8, Gean 2/1-0-4-7, Myers 2/1-0-3-7, K. Johnson 1/1-0-4-5, Hallacy 2/0-0-0-4, Mauk 2/0-0-2-4, Puckett 1/0-1-0-3, Snyder 1/0-0-1-2. TOTALS: 24/5-6-17-69.
Marmaton Valley (7-6-7-1—21) (2pt/3pt-FT-F-TP) Gutierrez 2/0-1-0-5, Ensminger 1/0-2-2-4, Griffith 1/0-2-4-4, Ard 1/0-1-0-3, Woods 1/0-0-1-2, Outlan 1/0-0-2-2, Becker 0/0-1-2-1. TOTALS: 7/0-5-11-21.
PHOTO: Junior Aricah McCall lines up a free throw in the Lady Cubs 69-21 win over Marmaton Valley on Tuesday. REGISTER/TIMOTHY EVERSON
