After breaking the ice to the their 2022-23 season with a win against Salem in Vienna, the California Lady Pintos went back on the road last Tuesday for a matchup against the Centralia Lady Panthers.
The Lady Pintos jumped out to a 9-0 start and their defense made sure that they never looked back. California came away with a 63-41 win for their eighth straight win against Centralia and the 360th win in head coach Bobby Sangster's coaching career.
"The important part about that stat is that were 2-0. The girls came out and they executed in a hostile environment. That's a very good team over there. Don't let tonight's score fool you, that's a very strong ball club in that other locker room and they're going to make this year and make a lot of other teams look really bad," Sangster said. "I think that them having their opening night was really beneficial for us. It was very advantageous we got to play last Saturday. It was part of the early season trivia of trying to get yourself ready to go. So don't get it twisted. That's a whale of a ball club."
Just as they did against Salem, California got off to a quick start by scoring the first nine points, with senior forward Lauren Friedrich scoring seven on those. Defensively, California held Centralia scoreless for more than four minutes until Lady Panthers senior guard Braylin Brunkhorst got Centralia on the board with a steal and fast break layup. Brunkhorst's ice-breaking bucket provided the Lady Panthers with a jolt of energy, but the Lady Pintos defense kept the pressure on and lead 16-6 after the first quarter.
Heading into the second quarter down by 10, Centralia turned up the intensity of their defense at the backcourt positions. To counter Centralia's guards, California chose to again look to Friedrich to spear their offense back into gear. Friedrich scored another nine points in the second quarter for a total of 18 first-half points. Although Centralia shot the ball better in the second eight minutes, California only gave up a one-point advantage to the Lady Panthers in the quarter. California took a 32-23 into halftime.
In the second half, the Lady Pintos wanted to get everyone more involved on offense and take some of the scoring load off of Friedrich. Centralia tried to combat this plan by going to a full-court pressure defense. At first, Centralia forced two early turnovers, but California was able to respond to the pressure with execution. In the third quarter, California outscored Centralia 17-6 and forced seven turnovers. Now up by 20 going into the fourth quarter, the Lady Pintos kept their foot on the gas and the defense didn't waver. The contest ended with a 63-41 win for the Lady Pintos to improve to 2-0 on the young season.
Friedrich scored a team-high and game-high 25 points on 9-13 from the floor and 5-6 from the foul line. Junior Hailey Rademan was the second-highest scorer with 15 points on 6-10 with three three-pointers. Offensively, ten different players scored for the Lady Pintos in the game. California shot just 43% from the floor, but 32% on threes (6-18) and 69% on free throws (11-15) with 15 assists and four offensive rebounds. Defensively, California pulled down 32 rebounds and forced 22 turnovers with 13 steals. Ten different players scored for the Lady Pintos in the game.
Sangster said that it was a big help for California that they already had a game under their belt going into Centralia's season opener last Monday. California had a better idea of how they needed to play and what changes they needed to make to their game. Now the Lady Pintos have scored 71 and 63 in back to back games while holding opponents to 38 and 41 points in those games.
"I'm really happy with where the defense is right now, but we've still got a lot of work to do. Centralia did a nice job tonight of showing us what we need to work on in both our half-court and full-court defense," Sangster said. "But I'm happy with how our girls locked themselves in. The number of girls we were able to bring in tonight and make contributions is going to be really telling to our season. To come up here and display the overall toughness that we did tonight was a very high level."
Sangster likes to have a team where everyone is involved and makes small plays that lead to victories. In the Lady Pintos' first two games, ten players have scored both times and the defense has forced a total of 46 turnovers. However, Sangster wanted a better balance of tempo between the offense and defense against the Lady Panthers. California likes to have their defense to be the catalyst that makes the offense go and Sangster says that the balance between offense and defense was what he was looking for.
"A lot of times early on in the year, you're playing too fast on offense and not fast enough on defense. We played really fast on defense Saturday, but we played a little too fast on offense. I think the girls cleaned that up a lot. Centralia's guard play was really good tonight and they did some things that pushed us, but we also found some answers for those," Sangster said. "I'm really happy with the post defense that Ella Bailey was able to play tonight and the freshman Addie Carr was able to come in and give us really good notes against a tall post. So if we keep producing answers for the questions that teams have for us, we're going to be a tough puzzle to solve."
The Lady Pintos will go back on the road for their first appearance in the Tipton Tournament. They took on New Bloomfield on Monday and will play Tri-County Conference rival Eldon on Wednesday night. Their final game of the tournament will be Friday against a to be determined opponent.
Senior forward Lauren Friedrich makes a pair of free throws to put the Lady Pintos up 20 on Centralia. Friedrich had a game-high 25 points with seven rebounds and a block. (Democrat photo/Evan Holmes)
Junior Hailey Rademan scored 15 points on 5-7 from the field in Centralia on Nov. 21. (Democrat photo/Evan Holmes)
Sophomore guard Kierstyn Lawson draws a foul and earns a trip to the free throw line. (Democrat photo/Evan Holmes)
Freshman center Addie Carr had five points and five rebounds off the bench against the Lady Panthers.(Democrat photo/Evan Holmes)
Freshman Tayte Higgins shoots two free throws for the Lady Pintos. (Democrat photo/Evan Holmes)
The Lady Pintos get pumped up for the game against Centralia. (Democrat photo/Evan Holmes)
Senior Alayna Butts (left) and freshman Tayte Higgins (right) stretch and warm up before the game on Nov. 21st. (Democrat photo/Evan Holmes)