Girls basketball dominates, battling through adversity

Micheal Simmons, Sports Editor

Every now and then it is normal to hear about a team blowing out another, but to hear it on a regular basis is next to absurd. That is what the Manhattan High girls Varsity basketball team has accomplished yet again as they blew out Hayden 67-37 during their homecoming game.

Despite making it look easy, the Lady Indians faced some heavy adversity, after losing junior Kia Wilson to a hand injury during the McPherson tournament.

“Kia plays a huge part in our success so losing her hurts us,” junior Haleigh Harper said. “fortunately we have players willing to step up and fill her shoes. Josie Hilgers [senior] and Allie Ostermann [sophomore] have stepped up and played some big minutes off the bench for us. They give 110 percent and that’s all anyone can ever ask for. [senior] Megan Worthington does an awesome job down low as well.”

To start the game, the team shut down Hayden’s offense by not allowing shots in the high post and stopping their deep shooters. While stopping the offense the team fueled their own destroying the defense by attacking the basket, this combination allowed the Lady Indians to go on a 24-2 run to end the first.

“I was pleased with the way we got started,” head coach Scott Mall said. “We seemed a little passive before the game started but I thought we came out with a lot of energy. Defensively I thought we worked really hard and got in the right places, got a lot of steals that way. We didn’t have to run a lot of offensive, because the girls just did a great job of attacking the basket. Games like this, a start like that is really important.”

The team did anything but slow down. They continued to dominate the half going on a 17-7 run, ending the half with the Indians leading 41-9. Although the score board showed the game as being a blowout, it was far from over for both the Hayden Wildcats and the Lady Indians.

“It’s hard to stay motivated after halftime when you’re up by so much,” senior Chrissy Carr said. “We had some struggles in the third quarter but we bounced back and Haleigh did an amazing job finishing her plays. I think we just haven’t played zone in a while so we just need to get used to it and work on that in practice. I think we do a good job of keeping each other motivated and cheering on different girls as they come. I think that will be useful when we get to closer games like next week and yeah it’s tough but we will pull through.”

MHS switched into a zone defense in the third quarter, and Hayden took advantage, scoring a total of 19 points in the third quarter. Despite the MHS defense giving way slightly, their offense was their to keep the difference so great by scoring 22 points, 13 of which came from Harper. The Lady Indians allowed Hayden to own the fourth quarter, going on a 4-15 run, ending the game in favor of MHS. This game brings their total of blowout games to seven, accounting for 50 percent of their competitions.

“It feels really good to be able to consistently blowout teams,” Carr said. “It’s nice to have that but it’s nice to have close to so we are making sure we get tested that way when we get to state we will be ready for it because everything won’t be a blowout there. I think we are doing a good job of pushing ourselves in practice and making sure that we are staying at the level that we are supposed to.”