After a tough loss against West High, the girls basketball team is looking to turn things around in the post season. The Little Hawks will face Bettendorf this Saturday at 7 PM in the City High gym.
“We need to play like we’re capable of playing and if we do that, we’ll make it to state,” head coach Bill McTaggart said.
Coming into last Saturday night’s game against the Women of Troy, the team was confident. Having only lost by nine to a very good West High team in their last meeting left them feeling good about their chances in a rematch.
“We felt pretty good about ourselves heading into the West High game,” McTaggart said. “Our goal was to control the tempo, boards, and make free throws to win.”
The game started promising when the Women of Troy only held a one point lead after the first quarter. However, West went on an 8-0 run early in the second quarter, taking a 18-26 lead. Offense in the paint was limited as West ran a triangle-and-two defense in the first half to clog up the middle and prevent Sierra Chambers ‘12 and Haley Lorenzen ‘14 from getting the ball.
Mickey Hansche ‘13 finally broke the West High streak with a long three, but the Women of Troy went on another 8-0 run spelling trouble for the Little Hawks and sending them into half time down 14.
“The mood [in the locker room] was quiet,” McTaggart said, “I told the girls we could get right back into the game if we did not panic.”
In the second half, the Little Hawks’ offense was better, but their defense could not stop the Women of Troy. West went on to win 49-63, crushing City’s hopes of getting revenge.
“We were within 10 with the ball early in the fourth quarter, we took a poor shot and West High started to stall. We got frustrated and played poorly the next five minutes,” McTaggart said.
Despite the disappointing loss, the Little Hawks are optimistic about the regional tournament. Bettendorf comes into the game with a record of 13-9. The Little Hawks will need to stop their best shooter, Liz Finn, in order to control Saturday’s game. The team will also need to apply more defensive pressure, create turn overs, get more offensive rebounds, and convert these things into points in order come away with the win and advance to the next round in the tournament.
“Offense sells tickets, defense wins games,” Kiera Washpun ‘14 said. “The key to getting to state is playing great defense. If we can do that, we will be hard to beat.”
