Pringle-Morse plays Claude in Hardwood Action
After a couple of weeks off, the Cougars and Lady Cougars traveled to Claude for their final non-district game of the year.
The Lady Cougars struggled against an excellent Claude girl’s team. You could tell we had been away for a couple of weeks while Claude had some games over the break. We struggled to take care of the ball (not necessarily because of the defense, just more sloppy offense), and we struggled on the boards, getting outrebounded and out-hustled. We knew this game was going to be a tough one, and we still showed up and fought.
Ultimately, fatigue (we only had six healthy players) and being away for two weeks hurt us. Claude came out and took a commanding lead and finished the game in the same way. We did have a decent third quarter, 9 to 16, but other than that, we struggled on the offensive end. However, one bright spot was we shot 88% from the free-throw line!! In the end, we lost this one 21 to 61.
Stephanie led the scoring with 9 points, and Natalia and Dehlilah put up six a piece. Natalia and Dehlilah led the rebounding with 6 and 5, respectively. Joselin, Kloe, and Ana played some big minutes and hustled on defense. Our girls went into a tough game knowing it would be tough and still put forth some effort. We have A LOT to learn and improve on, but we will get there.
The Cougars had a much closer game. Claude did come out on fire, making most of their first ten shots to take an early lead, but we fought back and had taken the lead by halftime, 25 to 24.
We were still pretty even through three quarters, but we now trailed 35 to 39. Then, we fell apart in the fourth quarter. We were beating ourselves more than anything (plenty of unforced turnovers, mental lapses on defense, etc.). Claude went on about a 10-point run, and that was enough to finish off the game. Claude did miss a lot of free throws at the end, but for some reason, we decided against grabbing the rebound, so it did not help us much. We took a bad loss, 42 to 52.
Eric led the scoring with 15, and Sergio and Reggie had 11 and 8 points, respectively. Alejandro was a monster on the rebounds with 12 rebounds, and Sergio and Reggie added seven rebounds each. Reggie had a team-high six assists, and Eric had a team-high five steals. Jerald and Noah also scored some points and were active on defense. Ulises played some minutes and rebounded but was unable to score. Brett,
Kevin, and Edward did not see much court time but were supportive teammates all the same.
The Cougars have to figure out how to play a complete game, not just three-quarters. Hopefully, we come out ready to go against some of our district opponents.
The Cougars and Lady Cougars will open up our district games at home on Friday against Channing. Jr. High will play before, so come out starting at four and watch all four of our teams play. These district games are what will determine if we advance to the playoffs or not, so you could say the real season starts now! Good luck to everyone!