ALTAMONT — Surging in the third quarter, the Labette County Grizzlies girls got by the Humboldt Cubs, 53-40, on Friday night.
“We played better basketball,” Labette County head coach Brianna Volmer said. “We put a better game together from start to finish. We haven’t played four solid quarters in a while. And we should be playing our best basketball at this time of year. Hopefully we’re doing that.”
Labette County led, 2420, at halftime before outpacing the Cubs, 18-9, in the third period.
“We went a little cold in the third quarter and that’s what got us,” Humboldt head coach Rob Myers said. “We’ve played six games the last two weeks and the girls were tired. That was an aggressive team, so we were expending a lot of energy. It hurt our legs.”
Paityn Davis led Labette County with 11 points. The Grizzlies connected on five 3-pointers, the most since a Jan. 30 win at Coffeyville.
“We had some good shot selection,” Volmer said. “I was proud of my kids’ resilience. We were three-happy to start the game. Sometimes, my girls hear me say to get post touches and they just stop shooting all together. But they stuck together and I was proud of them.”
Ricklyn Hillmon’s 11 points paced the Cubs.
“She always plays solid,” Myers said. “She’ll be mad at herself because she missed some free throws and didn’t hit some shots underneath. But she still did some of the stuff on defense that we needed.”
Labette County’s press wore Humboldt down in the second half.
“Our defense was pretty good throughout the night,” Myers said. “Labette County found some gaps and hit some open threes and that’s what got us. They also pressed very well. We tried to adjust and it was a bit of back-and-forth.”
Volmer was elated to see a staple of the Grizzlies’ identity shine.
“We know we have to be picky and choosy about what press we run because our foot speed hasn’t been what it’s been in the past,” Volmer said. “We got some opportunities to dip into the bench and run some schemes tonight and it paid off. They used their opportunity to get on the floor.”
Up next
Labette County, now 7-14 overall, faces Pittsburg on the road on Tuesday.
