By RYAN WALKER
NEW HAVEN — It didn’t start off as hot from the start, but Bluffton rolled to a 75-49 victory over New Haven Tuesday night with another 70-plus point performance.
This was the third time in the early season the Tigers, now 5-0, accomplished the mark in comparison to zero times last year.
Bluffton head coach Doug Curtis, who was hired last April, has only got to see his group for a short amount of time. He was able to grasp some of the team’s potential in shootouts over the summer and expected to perform well early, but the amount of scoring has been a pleasant surprise.
“We’re seeing some of that stuff I just didn’t know was going to translate into scoring 70 in a lot of the games against teams that we are better than to start with,” Curtis said. “So, I’m not surprised at 5-0. I’m more surprised at the outcomes of the 5-0.”
But who would have thought that the Tigers would score that much with an ice-cold 2-16 from the field with 1:55 left in the first quarter?
The team had good looks while solving New Haven’s aggressive zone defense. For the most part, they did, but shots clunked off the rim.
According to Curtis, the team’s slow start was attributed to a slow pace. He thought the team played tentatively with the ball and didn’t get to its bread and butter on defense to turn into offense. But once the team started to force some turnovers, the shots started to fall.
With 32 seconds left in the opening period, Madyson Sonnigsen drained a three-pointer on the left wing to regain the lead at 11-8, and at the buzzer, she hit another in the exact same spot.
With turnovers leading to better chances on the offensive side of the floor, Curtis decided to throw a curveball at the Bulldogs. The Tigers went into a full-court press and it immediately paid off.
Isabella Stout scored six of her team-high 19 points in the first minute of the second quarter on transition buckets. Haley Gibson then scored on another fast break and hit a three shortly after.
To put the nail in the coffin, Sonnigsen hit another buzzer-beater three from the same spot, again with a few ticks left on the clock, helping Bluffton take a 19-point lead at the half.
“The press picked our pace up a little bit, and I thought (the team) did a good job anyways right after that first quarter, maybe at the end of the first quarter, starting to get the transition going by applying the defense,” Curtis said. “Our transition was really good again.”
Bluffton continued to shoot the rock better and create from its defense. In the third quarter, only one shot didn’t fall in the 12 attempts. Bluffton outscored New Haven 25-12 and put the game away.
The team went from a 21 percent rate from the field in the first quarter to a 44 percent clip for the game in total. But because of the fast break points, the Tigers got better looks close to the basket. The shots from mid-range and beyond were a struggle, and Curtis acknowledged that part of the game to be worked on.
“We’re physical going into the rim and things like that, but we’ve got to shoot the ball a little bit better,” Curtis said. “We’ve got to keep working on that. It’s a work in progress.”
Bluffton will host South Adams at 7:30 p.m. on Friday night.
The Tigers also won the junior varsity game 34-6 in three quarters. Addison Kauffman was the leading scorer with seven points, Piper Morgan and Eve Corkwell added five.
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BLUFFTON 75, NEW HAVEN 49
At New Haven
BLUFFTON (5-0): Isabella Stout 8-18 3-4 19, Madyson Sonnigsen 4-5 2-2 14, Konley Ault 6-13 0-0 12, Maryn Schreiber 5-10 1-6 11, Tressa Renner 3-6 1-2 7, Sophie Eisenhut 1-2 0-0 2, Addison Kauffman 0-1 0-0 0, Cayah King 0-1 0-0 0, Madelyn Funk 0-0 0-0 0, Marly Drayer 0-2 0-0 0, Addison Yates 0-0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 30-68 7-14 75.
NEW HAVEN (0-5): A’lanah Webb 7-24 3-4 20, Janiya Johnson 6-21 4-6 19, Monty Stewart-King 2-4 0-2 4, Aniyah Rozier 1-1 1-1 3, Hannah Goodrich 1-4 2-3 4, Brooklyn Dial 0-4 0-0 0, Mayzon Win 0-4 0-2 0, Madison Minton 0-0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 17-62 10-18 49.
Bluffton 14 22 25 24 –– 75
New Haven 8 9 12 9 –– 49
Three-point FG: Bluffton 5-12 (Sonnigsen 4-5, Gibson 1-5, Ault 0-2, New Haven 6-27 (Johnson 3-12, Webb 3-9, Win 0-4, Goodrich 0-1). Rebounds: Bluffton 41 (Schreiber 9, Renner 7, Ault 6, Drayer 6, Stout 4, Gibson 3, King 3, Sonnigsen 2, Eisenhut 1), New Haven 32 (Webb 11, Johnson 5, Dial 4, Goodrich 4, Rozier 4, Win 3, Stewart-King 3). Turnovers: Bluffton 16, New Haven 19. Fouls: Bluffton 15, New Haven 11. Fouled Out: New Haven Dial. Technicals: None.
JV: 34-6 Bluffton.
