By ANDREW FEEBACK
With the offense struggling in the early-going, the Bluffton Lady Tigers turned to their defense to get the spark they needed on their way to a 58-34 win over the visiting Wabash Lady Apaches.
Neither team scored until Haley Gibson’s three-pointer nearly three minutes into the game.
The Tigers weren’t getting much against the Apaches’ 2-3 zone defense.
“The films we watched, there was a lot of space in the high post,” coach Doug Curtis said. “But they obviously watched film on us and knew we were going to throw it in the high post. They closed that down a bit, and made it a little tougher on us. I didn’t think we really broke it open until we started getting some run-outs and scoring off our press and half-court defense. Then, we started to get a little looser on the offensive end.”
Bluffton (8-1) forced 11 first-half turnovers and turned that into 20 straight points to put the game out of reach by halftime.
The Tigers also held the Apaches (5-4) without a field goal for the entire half on 18 attempts.
Wabash made more shots in the second half, but still finished the game just 10 of 41 overall.
“We were a little surprised,” Curtis said. “In the films we watched, if they break the press, they attack the goal, so that’s why we ran our 2-2-1 rather than our more aggressive press. I thought the girls did a really nice job of that. In that press, we’re trying to make them pass the ball; anticipate, get deflections, and make them pass. If we wouldn’t have reached and fouled quite so much, I’d be even happier. But we made them pass the ball, and that allowed us to still be aggressive and press.”
The Tigers placed four in double figures, led by Maryn Schreiber with 13, Madyson Sonnigsen and Marly Drayer with 12 each and Isabella Stout with 10.
Wabash made its first four field goal attempts of the second half after failing to make one before halftime, but the Tigers were well beyond their reach by that point, pushing the lead as high as 30 by early in the fourth quarter.
“We played our normal ‘Tiger’ all night in the half-court,” Curtis said. “I was happy with the way Marly and Haley set our defense up, which is all our guards’ job to get the defense set up and get it going.”
The Apaches got 13 points from Bryleigh Boggs and 11 from Kaitlynn Honeycutt.
Bluffton will travel to Woodlan Friday night.
The Tiger JV team was victorious, 50-19. Isla Gibson scored 12 points, Madelyn Funk had 10, Addison Yates had nine and Shak Eskridge added eight.
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BLUFFTON 58, WABASH 34
At Bluffton
WABASH (5-4): Janika Stumbo 1-8 2-4 4, Bryleigh Boggs 3-11 7-9 13, Isabella Vail 0-1 0-0 0, Kierra Wilson 0-0 0-0 0, Gretta France 0-1 0-0 0, Samantha Walter 1-5 2-2 4, Kiana Jones 0-3 0-0 0, Kaitlynn Honeycutt 5-10 0-0 11, Kenley McWhirt 0-0 0-0 0, Logan Wright 0-2 0-0 0, Olivia Braun 0-0 1-2 1, Jaycee Jones 0-0 1-2 1. TOTALS: 10-41 13-19 34.
BLUFFTON (8-1): Isabella Stout 4-9 2-2 10, Konley Ault 0-0 0-0 0, Marly Drayer 4-10 3-4 12, Maryn Schreiber 5-12 3-6 13, Haley Gibson 2-9 0-0 6, Tressa Renner 0-2 0-0 0, Madyson Sonnigsen 5-9 0-0 12, Cayah King 0-1 0-0 0, Sophie Eisenhut 1-4 0-0 2, Shak Eskridge 1-1 0-0 3. TOTALS: 22-57 8-12 58.
Wabash 4 1 13 16 — 34
Bluffton 16 11 19 12 — 58
Three-point Goals: Wabash 1-12 (Honeycutt 1-4, Boggs 0-3, Kiana Jones 0-3, Stumbo 0-1, France 0-1), Bluffton 6-19 (Sonnigsen 2-6, Gibson 2-6, Drayer 1-4, Eskridge 1-1, Stout 0-1, King 0-1). Rebounds: Wabash 29 (Stumbo 10, Kiana Jones 4, Boggs 4, Walter 3, Honeycutt 3, Wright 2, Vail 2, Braun 1), Bluffton 32 (Schreiber 10, Drayer 6, Stout 5, Gibson 3, Sonnigsen 3, King 2, Renner 2, Eisenhut 1). Turnovers: Wabash 22, Bluffton 12. Fouls: Wabash 10, Bluffton 19. Fouled out: None. Technicals: None.
JV: Bluffton 50, Wabash 19.
