HUMBOLDT — A late-season surge for Humboldt High’s girls continued Tuesday as the Lady Cubs opened Class 3A substate play on a high note..
And a pair of familiar faces — Jada Dangerfield and Winter Snyder — led the charge.
The duo combined for 41 points as Humboldt jumped out quickly and withstood a barrage of turnovers followed by Osawatomie 3-pointers down the stretch to win, 53-37.
The victory is the fourth in a row and fifth in six games for Humboldt (12-9), which advances to the substate semifinals at 7:30 p.m. Friday against Anderson County, which defeated West Franklin 41-37 in their opener. The semifinal and final rounds will be hosted by Burlington High School.
Humboldt took control with an early 15-3 run keyed by Dangerfield, who controlled the game at both the offensive and defensive ends at times (statistics for rebounds, steals and assists were unavailable, but Dangerfield had plenty of each.)
“We know she’s capable of that,” Humboldt head coach Aubrey Jones said. “It’s a matter of the team talking her up all the time. They tell her just how strong and powerful she is, and she’s buying into it. Other than that, they do a good job of working it around to her and feeding off of her energy.”
Snyder’s offensive rebound and putback late in the first quarter pushed Humboldt’s lead to 27-11.
The margin swelled to 21 early in the third quarter before an old bugaboo — turnovers — began to rear its ugly head.
Lady Cub miscues led to consecutive 3-pointers by Osawatomie’s Iyahna Burnett and Allie Lagesse to pare Humboldt’s lead to 34-19.
But Snyder responded with a pair of free throws, followed by a driving bucket by Dangerfield, and a field goal by Kady Hart, and suddenly the lead was back to 21.
Two more Osawatomie treys late in the third pulled the Trojans back within an arm’s length before Dangerfield triggered another key sequence, forcing a 10-second call in the waning seconds of the period before converting a 3-point play to push Humboldt’s lead to 43-25.
Humboldt sputtered down the stretch but Osawatomie never drew closer than 13.
Dangerfield wound up with 23 points, while Snyder scored 18. Just as importantly, both went 7 of 9 from the line to help Humboldt maintain a healthy lead.
Jones offered high praise for Snyder, one of two seniors on the roster.
“Winter’s our catalyst,” Jones said. “What she does, we tend to follow. She’s a captain for a reason.”
In a peculiar statistical anomaly, four Osawatomie players tied for the team’s scoring honors with seven points apiece — Lagasse, Burnett, Avery Dempsey and Madison Ballou — while Sydney Booe scored six.
