Shooting, turnovers cost girls in first game

Jason Ferguson

Published: Wednesday, December 17th, 2008

Douglas’ Courtney Balisco tries to keep Taava Cooper from going up with a shot during last Thursday night’s game against the Patriots. Cooper poured in 14 points in the game, but the Wildcats came up short, losing by 12.

        Suffice it to say it was not the debut the Custer High School girls basketball team was looking for. Plagued by poor shooting, a bevy of turnovers and a relentless Douglas inside game, the Wildcats lost their first game of the season to the visiting Patriots last Thursday night, 43-31. “It was like a boxing match. We came out on our heels. Douglas came out on their toes,” head coach Paul Anderson said. “They hit us in the mouth, and we staggered around. We finally got our bearings, but by then it was too late.” The Wildcats committed 22 turnovers in the face of the Patriot full court press, allowing Douglas to take an early 6-2 lead it would never relinquish. There were four ties in the first quarter, the first of which came when Taava Cooper buried a three-point shot at the 2:21 mark to knot the score at eight. Cooper was one of the few bright spots in the game for Custer, scoring 14 points and providing the vast majority of the Wildcat offense on this night. Douglas took control of the game late in the first quarter, continually pounding the ball into the low block, where Custer had no answer for the tandem of Kelsey Schwartz and Kaylee Knudson, who seemingly scored at will inside and helped the Patriots build an 18-12 lead at the end of the first period. “They shot the ball extremely well early. They took it inside and put the ball in the hole,” Anderson said. The Patriots extended that lead in the second quarter, but another Cooper three-pointer helped cut the lead to seven at 25-18 with around three minutes left in the half. The Patriots eventually took a 29-20 lead into the break. Custer came out with more fire on the defensive end in the third quarter, but continued to be ice cold from the field. The team seemingly couldn’t have hit sand if it had fallen off a camel, making only 11 of the 55 shots it took in the game—a 20 percent clip. In fact, Cooper scored the only three points the ’Cats would score the entire quarter when she hit a three-pointer with 1:13 left in the frame. “We couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn,” Anderson said. “It thought we would shoot a little better than that, but it is what it is. It killed us.” The team wasn’t much better from the free throw line either, making only four of the 17 freebies it attempted. “We shot 20 percent from the field, made four of 17 from the free throw line and turned it over 22 times,” Anderson said. “When you add all those together, the result isn’t very good. We got what we deserved.” Schwartz added to Custer’s misery early in the fourth quarter, hitting a pair of free throws and converting a steal into a layup that put Douglas on top 41-26 with 2:25 left in the game. Custer would never get the lead back into single digits. Anderson said he was pleased with the better defense the team played in the second half, particularly in defending Douglas’ post players. Schwartz and Knudson did the majority of their damage in the first half. “We made some adjustments and basically shut down what they were doing in the second half,” he said. “They didn’t hurt us anymore there. But, we fouled too much and Douglas shot the heck out of it at the free throw line.” Schwartz led the Douglas scoring attack with 23 points. Knudson added 11. Last Saturday’s scheduled game at Lead-Deadwood was postponed because of the weekend weather. This weekend the team will participate in the Lakota Nation Invitational Tournament, which begins Wednesday and runs through Saturday in Rapid City. The team’s first game will be Wednesday night at 7 p.m. at the Rushmore Plaza Civic Center. The Wildcats enter the tournament as the 10th seed, and will face Crow Creek in the first round. Anderson said after last week’s game, there is plenty for the team to work on—particularly breaking the press. “If I heard about how we played against Douglas, I would pressure us,” he said. “A press is an opportunity to score. If they’re going to take the risk in pressing, we have to make them pay the price, and we did that a few times. We got some point-blank looks, but couldn’t put the ball in the hole. I’m confident we can get those things fixed. We just need to improve upon the things that were weaknesses against Douglas.” Custer 12 8 3 8 —31 Douglas 18 11 5 9 —43 Custer—Ariel Cisneros 0 2-5 2, Shawna Gibson 2 0-2 4, Melissa Flores 1 1-2 3, Taava Cooper 4 2-6 14, Megan Harkin 1 0-2 2, Sam Harrison 2 0-0 4, Breezy Boldon 1 0-0 3. Totals: 11-55 4-17 31. Douglas—Thailia Wynn 1 0-0 2, Kelsey Schwartz 8 7-7 23, Courtney Balisco 0 5-8 5, Gina Ertz 1 0-2 2, Kaylee Knudson 4 3-4 11. Totals 14-48 15-21 43. Three-point goals: Custer (Cooper 4, Boldon 1). Field goal percentage: Custer 20 (11-55), Douglas 29 (14-48). Rebounds: Custer 34, Douglas 34. Turnovers: Custer 22, Douglas 19. Total fouls: Custer 19, Douglas 17. Fouled out: Gibson, Schwartz.