Slow start dooms girls against Cavs

Someone needs to take the snooze button off the Custer High School girls basketball team’s alarm clock.

In what has been an all-too-familiar theme for the ’Cats this season, they had a less-than-stellar first half of their game in Rapid City last Friday night, scoring only eight first half points in a 38-25 loss to the St. Thomas More Cavaliers.

Head coach Stephanie Ornelas said this poor first half wasn’t a result of a lack of intensity or effort, but rather the result of shots that simply wouldn’t fall.

“We couldn’t buy a basket. It was frustrating for the team and coaches,”â��she said.â��“We had shots that went in and out. We had great shot selection. They just weren’t falling for us.”

As they have been prone to do this season, the girls turned it on after halftime, and the shots started to fall. The team went on an 11-0 run in the third quarter that cut the lead to seven.

More regained control of the game in the fourth quarter, however, and Custer’s early hole proved too much to dig out of.

Despite the struggles on offense, Ornelas praised the defensive effort of the team, saying it was defense that allowed the team to even have a chance to get back into the game.

“The girls did an amazing job on defense. They didn’t let their offensive struggle affect our defense,”â��she said.â��“The score could have been a lot different either way. We never let up on defense. If a few of our shots would have dropped, we could have gotten some momentum to carry us to a victory. But it didn’t happen that way.”

Breezy Boldon had nine points in the game, while Josie Thomsen pulled down 10 rebounds.

On Feb. 9, the girls ran through the same script as Friday, scuffling the first half before taking control in the second and coming away with a 46-31 win over visiting Newcastle, Wyo.

After falling behind at the half by seven, the Wildcats turned on the defense in the second half, holding the Dogies to only five points in the entire half.

“Iâ��have been on a lot of teams where you play really well in the first half, and wish you didn’t have to take a halftime break,”â��Ornelas said.â��“Halftime has been a benefit for this team on a few occasions.”

After entering the second quarter with a 10-8 lead, thanks to a Taylor Kuhn jumper and a steal and layup by Karly Konkol, the ’Cats committed numerous turnovers against the Dogie full-court press, and fell behind 17-14 after Newcastle’s Andrea Chord hit a basket and was fouled. After making some adjustments, the ’Cats solved the riddle of Newcastle’s press, and wore down the smaller Dogies.

“For some reason, we are a magnet for where teams want to trap us,”â��Ornelas said. “Newcastle came out ready to go, but physically wasn’t ready for our press the whole game. They got tired.”

Kuhn tied the game again with another three-pointer at the 4:41 mark, but the Dogies went on a  9-2 run from that point, capped by a Madi Lacey three-pointer at the halftime buzzer.

While Newcastle found its range towards the end of the second quarter, Custer seemingly couldn’t have hit water if it fell out of a boat during the same time frame.

Things changed for Custer in the third quarter, as the Wildcats scored the first five points of the third, and went ahead for the first time in the second half when Tiffany Dower scored inside midway through the frame to make the score 29-28. That was followed by a three-pointer by Boldon, and another basket by Dower inside after great ball movement by all of the girls on the court to find Dower alone inside.

Newcastle never threatened after that point. Sydney Mohr and Kuhn hit back-to-back baskets to put Custer up 40-30 with 3:50 left in the game, and by the time Thomsen scored two of her nine points in the game on pair of free throws with 1:30 left, Custer had already sealed the victory.

Kuhn joined Thomsen in a balanced scoring effort with nine pints, while Boldon and Dower both had eight.

Custer, now 13-6 on the season, will close out the regular season Thursday night when it hosts the Newell Irrigators at 7 p.m. The Irrigators are ranked No. 1 in Class B, and came from behind to defeat Custer Jan. 28 in Newell. The ’Gators lost their first game last weekend, after being upset by Wall.

Ornelas was a little disappointed to hear Newell had been defeated, hoping to use the chance to give the Irrigators their first blemish as motivation for the team.

“Now I’ll have to think of something else,”â��she said with a laugh. “They are beatable. We can’t let up at any point. They can go on a 12-0 run at any moment and change the momentum. It’s the last (regular season) home game for our senior girls. They are going to be fired up and ready to go.”

Tuesday the team will begin district play, and will more than likely host Hot Springs at 7 p.m. in the armory. The ’Cats have beaten the Bison twice this year, but each game was close. The game will be a rematch of the first round of district play a year ago, when the Bison caught fire in the second half and upset the Wildcats.

“It will be a hard fight to get out of districts,”â��Ornelas said.

Custer 10 9 15 12 —46

Newcastle 8 18 2 3 —31

Custer—Ariel Cisneros 1 0-0 3, Taylor Kuhn 3 2-2 9, Josie Thomsen 2 5-6 9, Karly Konkol 1 0-0 2, Shawna Gibson 2 0-2 4, Breezy Boldon 3 0-0 8, Tiffany Dower 4 0-1 8, Sydney Mohr 1 1-2 3. Totals:â��14 8-13 46.

Newcastle, Wyo.—A. Chord 1 3-3 5, B. Reutzel 1 0-0 2, K. Livingston 2 0-0 4, K. James 1 1-5 3, M. Lacey 2 0-0 5, M. Podio 4 0-4 8, M. Back 1 0-0 2, M. Gordon 1 0-0 2. Totals:â��12 4-12 31.

Three-point goals: Custer 4 (Boldon 2, Kuhn, Cisneros), Newcastle 1 (Lacey). Total fouls:�Custer 16, Newcastle 17. Fouled out: Chord.