Sophomore Wildcat Maddie Collins went into Christmas break with a bad taste in her mouth.
After a strong first four games in what’s kind of been a break-out season, Collins hit just two free throws in Yates Center’s close loss to Southeast-Cherokee — a loss that ended the Wildcats undefeated streak.
Tuesday night’s 67-63 home win over Flinthills must’ve felt like a nice big cup of mouthwash as the sophomore lit it up with 29 points including six threes.
“It made up for our last game where she only hit a couple free throws,” head coach Dallas Scothorn said of Collins’s performance. “And she had been hitting pretty well up until the game before Christmas but tonight she was good. She’s been working on it. During break, she worked on her three. If she gets her follow-through right, she’s pretty accurate.”
Neither team seemed to have a handle on this game and even when they thought they did, they really didn’t.
The Wildcats went into halftime with an 11-point lead thanks to a 22-8 second quarter. After some early yips, Yates Center’s size and defense seemed to be taking its toll. They were on their way to an easy finish.
But the sharpshooting Flinthills senior Ashley Melugin and the Mustangs had a different idea going on their own 22-8 run in the third quarter with Melugin scoring seven of her team-high 25 points.
“It was just a game of runs,” Scothorn said.
Defensively, the Wildcats were exposed. Flinthills came into Tuesday’s game with a reputation for lighting it up from beyond the arc so Scothorn knew Yates Center’s regular zone defense wouldn’t do.
“We haven’t played much man-to-man this year,” Scothorn said. “The way they shoot the ball I figured we’d get murdered if we played zone. So tonight was kind of a learning night. Sometimes we didn’t rotate and we left people open but it was a good learning experience.”
Even with the miscues, the Wildcats found themselves down just three heading into the fourth quarter.
Sophomore point guard Jay
Sophomore point guard Jaylee Catron was the spark to light the way for Yates Center down the stretch on both ends of the ball as she scored six of her 18 points in the fourth quarter while grabbing several steals.
“She’s smooth,” Scothorn said. “And she can drive to the bucket well. At times she needs to learn when to give it up and when to shoot it when she gets down in the paint but she can get that ball to the bucket. She’s very good at it. She’s pretty good on defense too. And when she gets steals, she runs the floor.”
With a little under five and a half to play in the game, Yates Center retook the lead at 55-53 and did not give it up, stretching their lead back out to as much as eight before Flinthills cut it down to four in the final minutes.
With the win, the Wildcats move to 5-1 on the season. They’ll host West Elk on Friday.
BOX SCORES
Yates Center (19-22-8-18—67) (2pt/3pt-FT-F-TP) Collins 3/6-5-2-29, Catron 3/2-6-4-18, Pringle 4/0-1-2-9, Weseloh 1/0-1-4-3, Jones 1/0-0-2-2, Hegwald 0/0-0-2-0. TOTAL: 14/8-15-17-67.
Flinthills (22-8-22-11—63) (2pt/3pt-FT-F-TP) Melugin 5/5-0-3-25, Ratcliff 2/2-1-3-11, Martin 5/0-0-2-10, Brown 2/0-1-3-5, Brown 2/0-0-2-4, Totty 1/0-0-0-2, Sorum 0/0-1-3-1, Jackson 0/0-1-0-1, Hinnen 0/0-0-2-0. TOTALS: 19/7-4-20-63.
PHOTO: Yates Center sophomore Maddie Collins goes up for a shot versus Flinthills junior Cary Brown in the Lady Cats 67-63 home win on Tuesday. REGISTER/TIMOTHY EVERSON
