Facing undefeated, No. 1 Johnson County at home on Saturday, the Labette Cardinals women fell to the Cavaliers, 93-62, in KJCCC play.
“Johnson County is just one hell of a team,” Labette head coach Gabby Cortez said. “They do a great job executing and knocking down shots when they need to. They’re a well-coached team. Tonight was one of those games where we saw if we’d fight or quit. I think we still have some fight in us.”
Labette trailed by five after the first quarter, but Johnson County’s depth and speed wore the Cardinals down as the game progressed.
“That affected everything,” Cortez said. “We wanted to slow them down as much as possible. But all five players on the floor for them knew to get the ball off the rim and get up the floor. That goes back to depth. They had more numbers.”
Mattea Henry, Aubreyanna Yelverton and Najya O’Neal all led Labette with 12 points apiece. Henry was the most efficient from the floor, connecting on 5-of-11 shots.
“When she gets down low and does what she needs to do, she puts the ball in the hole,” Cortez said. “She was great for me today. Everybody was great with how hard they worked against the fastest team in the country.”
While the Cardinals were limited to seven players, Johnson County put 13 on the court. Boosting Labette’s depth this offseason is one of Cortez’s priorities.
“That’s been my thought process since Day 1,” Cortez said. “I need numbers. If I can get numbers, then I won’t be worried. We can compete with anybody in the country with numbers. So we want to bring in as many kids as we can so we can make a run.”
Johnson County was led in scoring by Kara Stricklin, who had 20 points.
Labette fell to 4-15 overall and 2-7 in KJCCC play with the loss. Johnson County improved to 27-0 and 9-0, respectively.
Up next
Labette heads north to Highland on Wednesday.
“We’ve already been talking about that bus trip on a Wednesday to go win a game,” Cortez said. “They have a great fanbase at Highland. So we have to be able to handle that environment.”
