Nineteen turnovers in the first half debilitated a hobbled Labette Cardinals women’s squad as they fell to Division I Eastern Oklahoma State, 6963, on Wednesday night.
The loss dipped Labette’s record to 1-8 overall.
“We didn’t take them seriously,” Labette head coach Gabby Cortez said. “We went out there thinking we were the better team. They realized really early that we had to do a better job of taking care of the ball. If we took better care of the ball, we don’t have problems tonight.”
Eastern Oklahoma State’s trap forced a barrage of errant passes from the Cardinals’ backcourt.
“It wasn’t so much the defense causing problems, they just hadn’t seen it all year,” Cortez said. “Once we made the adjustments in the second half, we did a lot better.”
Labette trailed by as much as 14 in the first half before mounting a comeback in the fourth quarter.
“We finally got back to us and how we’re supposed to play,” Cortez said. “We’re not a 1-8 team. We’re so close to getting over the hump. That run showed us what we’re capable of. We just needed some stops at the end of the game.”
The Cardinals claimed a 63-62 lead with two-and-ahalf minutes left to play before Eastern Oklahoma State ended the night on a 7-0 run.
“We had a bunch of medical issues that really affected our depth,” Cortez said. “Tierra (Bargeman) was hurting with her shoulder. Mattea (Henry) wasn’t feeling good. Najya (O’Neal) was out with an ankle injury. We got beat up and tired. A lack of depth is an issue right now.”
Ahmani Klabunde led Labette with 24 points on 9-of-22 shooting while Aubreyanna Yelverton posted a double-double with 10 points and 10 boards — albeit on 3-of-16 shooting.
“The depth is starting to be an issue when we’re in foul trouble,” Cortez said. “Jordyn (Searles) and Tierra had four fouls. If I can keep them in the game and be able to rotate more, we’ll be fine. I’ve seen teams with six, seven, eight players make it to the national tournament. So depth isn’t an issue if we can control everything else.”
Alanna Williams led Eastern Oklahoma State with 19 points while McKayla Minor added 12.
Up next
Labette hosts Metro-Penn Valley on Saturday. The Cardinals’ lone win of the season came on the road against Metro earlier.
“We’ll take care of our bodies and recover,” Cortez said. “We know the scout. So we’ll do some ice baths and get shots up. Our shots are going to start falling. They work so hard in practice. It’s going to all start connecting.”
