Turnovers doom Broken Bow basketball in loss to Wood River
BROKEN BOW - The Broken Bow girls basketball team suffered their first loss of the season at home on Jan. 15 against Wood River. The C2 No. 7 Eagles overcame a fourth-quarter deficit to win 54-47 over the C1. No. 3 Indians.
Ultimately, the biggest issue for the Broken Bow girls was a fourth-quarter where nothing seemed to go right.
Clinging to a 39-33 lead at the end of three, the Indians were outscored 21-8 in the fourth. This included eleven turnovers in the second half.
“We had entirely too many turnovers in the second half to beat a good team,” Broken Bow Girls Basketball coach Kelly Cooksley said. “That is part of the game and hopefully our team will learn from it and be better the next time we are in a position like this.”
To start the game off, Kali Staples was able to knock down a jumper driving to the hoop. She followed that up by connecting on a three to give Broken Bow a 7-2 advantage.
Trailing 11-4, after two free throws by Staples, Wood River began on the comeback trail.
Three-pointers by Ellie Gideon and Kiernan Paulk for the Eagles cut Wood River’s deficit to two points. A layup right before the buzzer by Boston Boucher resulted in the game being knotted at 14 a piece after one-quarter of play.
Early on in the second, the Indians found themselves in a six-point hole. A three by Staples in the corner made it 20-17.
Later on, Kassidy Cyboron was able to make a jumper around the freethrow line and Kya Scott converted another three to give Broken Bow a twopoint lead.
The scoring didn’t stop there, as Kailyn Scott got a midrange shot to fall and Staples made her second three-pointer of the quarter. At halftime, the Indians were in control 29-24.
The momentum for Broken Bow continued into the second half, where Kya Scott knocked down a three on the team’s first possession.
Leading 35-30 later in the quarter, the Indians Kailyn Scott got a jumper to fall. At the free-throw line, Kya Scott made two free throws bringing the score to 39-30.
“I thought we played aggressive offensively in those quarters,” Cooksley said. “I also thought our defense at times was good. We were holding a team that scores close to 60 a game to 33 through three quarters, so there were some bright spots defensively. I also thought we shot the ball decent from three as we made seven and shot about 34%.”
The Eagles put a dent in the lead at the end of the third with a three-point rally, with the final basket coming off a steal on an inbound pass.
That turnover was a foreshadowing of what was to come for Broken Bow in the fourth as ball security became a major issue.
Broken Bow led 41-37 early in the quarter when Jenna Rauert made a jumper for Wood River to make it a one-possession game. Kya Scott was able to answer back with a basket of her own to put the Indians ahead 43-39.
It was at this point, the Indians would turn the ball over on three straight possessions.
All three turnovers were turned into points on the other end by the Eagles. The first resulted in two free throws for Boucher, the second a layup for Paulk, and then finally Boucher was able to connect on a three.
From there on out, Broken Bow was not able to get back within one possession. It was a tough few minutes of the game, that ultimately decided the outcome.
Kya Scott paced the Indians
in points with 17 and not far off was Staples with 15 points. On the glass, Cyboron and Kailyn Scott each pulled down six rebounds.
Broken Bow looks to get
back in the win column this week at home against an 8-5 Gothenburg team. Game time is set for 6:00 p.m on Jan. 21.