LOOGOOTEE — Northeast Dubois ran into resistance from Loogoote in the first quarter of Thursday’s blue chip conference game, but things went well after that.
Class 1A-No. 5 Jeep (15-4, 5-2) defeated the Lions (3-18, 2-4) 10-9, followed by Lou Gouty 13-11 in the second after the first quarter. Three points behind junior Emily Hawkins. , finished with a team-high nine points.
However, sophomore Emmersen Kalb tied the game at 1-1 with a free-throw conversion with 6:03 left in the second quarter and that jump started a 23-0 run. 45-22 win at Jack Butcher Arena.
“Our defense got us started. It’s our defense that’s our big thing for our team,” Jeep coach Michael Cave said. Tonight we had a little bit of a hard time starting off on defense but the girls adapted a little bit to that and realized what they were doing off screen etc. Moving on to the offensive end — some easy In a quick bucket, that’s how we got through the rest of the night.”
Northeast DuBois gave Lou Gooty a nine-game losing streak and some teams without the best records tested Jeep and almost pulled off a few upsets, but Northeast DuBois kept business on Thursday. definitely handled.
“I think we’re starting to be more focused and we know the tournament is coming up. We have to get ready for the tournament and we can’t let the team hang around,” Cave said. , we need to come out to have a good start.We didn’t have the best start tonight but once we got going we played pretty good.That’s what it should have had from the start It’s the road to the end of the game—and we work on it every day, and the girls realize that’s what it takes to get to that point.
Cave said Northeast Dubois needed to work on their shots after their 49-43 victory over West Washington on Jan. 14, and the first-year coach said the Jeep made several open shots. I pointed out that times.
They didn’t exactly tackle shooting at halfcourt, but senior Rylan Kalb, who finished with a game-high 19 points, had a shot from that distance just before the buzzer to end the first half.
“Whenever we shoot a half-court like that and it comes in, we take it,” he said.
The Jeep kept the Lions scoreless throughout the third quarter, and Hawkins scored a basket in the fourth to put the Lions back on the board, but the Jeep went 11-9 in the final eight minutes. .
Cave wants to work on the rebound in practice today. He asks players to crash the board and minimize opposing offensive rebounds.
He hopes the Jeep will do well with some easy buckets and defensive stops as the key to a good start against Perry Central at Northeast DuBois on Saturday afternoon.