Becky Carlson has never been much on style points.
The Marmaton Valley High girls head basketball coach noted Friday’s 27-14 defensive battle came down to the Wildcats’ ability to remain patient with the ball.
“It was the defense,” she said. “Crest makes you play ugly, and they did make us play ugly. But we kept fighting.”
Wildcat senior standout Janae Granere’s night was a bit more picturesque. She scored all nine of MV’s points in the first quarter as MV took a three-point lead.
By then, the Wildcat defense was at its peak efficiency as well. Marmaton Valley limited Crest to two points in the second quarter and one point in the third.
The Wildcats weren’t exactly lighting it up, either, but did take a 16-8 lead into the break. Offense was at a premium in the third quarter as the Wildcats scored three and Crest one in the period.
“Our starters have played a lot of minutes, and their legs were definitely tired,” Lady Lancer head coach Steve Zimmerman said. “We played really well, but we were missing 2-, 3- and 4-foot shots.
“You can’t beat a good team like that, scoring only one point in a quarter,” he continued. “We couldn’t buy a basket.”
“Our shots were flat,” Carlson said, “and they tried box-and-one defense on Janae. But we didn’t get frustrated. We just kept working. This is a good step. That’s a good team. Anytime we can win, it’s a good game.”
Payton Scharff added four points for the Wildcats.
“Even though we only won one game, we made some strides,” Zimmerman said. “The goal of the season was to compete in every game and to have a winning record at the end. We’re on the way to doing that.”
Karlee Boots scored six to lead Crest.
Crest (6-2-1-5—14)
FG FT F TP
Jones 0 0 1 0
Nilges 0 0 1 0
Beckmon 0 1 4 1
Hermreck 2 1 0 5
Boots 2 2 3 6
Edgerton 1 0 4 2
Totals 5 4 13 14
Marmaton Valley (9-7-3-8—27)
Barney 0 0 1 0
Scharff 2 2 2 4
Forero 1 0 3 2
Adams 0 0 3 0
Granere 5/1 6 5 19
Totals 8/1 8 14 27
