After winning their first two games of the season, California Lady Pintos basketball participated in their first tournament of the season last week in Tipton.
California won their first two games by double-digits to advance to the championship game, where they suffered their first loss to the Tipton Lady Cardinals and finished as the tournament runner-up.
California's first game of the tournament was against a familiar foe in the Versailles Lady Tigers. The Lady Pintos jumped out to a 21-point lead in the first half and never looked back. California had ten of the 12 players get in the scorebook and steamrolled their way to a 64-15 win over Versailles.
California shot 46 percent from the field (25-54), 14 percent from the three-point line (4-27) and 77 percent from the foul line (10-13). As a team, the Lady Pintos had 18 assists and 18 steals. Versailles shot 18 percent from the field (5-28), 6 percent from the three-point line (1-16) and 33 percent from the foul line (4-12).
Lady Pintos head coach Kevin Carr said one of the best things about the win over the Lady Tigers was getting his bench players extra minutes in a tournament game.
"I think it's great, even with tonight's game being like it was in a tournament game. That's just going to benefit us down the stretch when we get into the January and February time frame," Carr said.
In their second game of the tournament against the Eldon Lady Mustangs, the Lady Pintos got off to a slow start and found themselves down 11-4 midway through the first quarter. But under the lead of guard Kierstyn Lawson and forward Tayte Higgins, California scored 14 points in a row to end the first quarter.
Higgins continued to lead the way on both ends of the floor, including ten points in the second quarter. The Lady Pintos led by as many as 29 in the second half and won the game 57-44.
California shot 38 percent from the field (25-65), 22 percent from the three-point line (6-27) and 12 percent from the foul line (1-8). As a team, the Lady Pintos recorded 20 steals. Eldon shot 33 percent from the field (19-57), 13 percent from the three-point line (2-15) and 67 percent from the foul line (4-6).
Higgins scored a career-high 19 points with six rebounds, four steals, two assists and a block. Guard Hailey Rademan had 13 points, four rebounds, three steal, three assists and a block. Lawson had 12 points, four steals, four assists and two rebounds. Senior forward Ella Bailey had four points, 13 rebounds and two blocks.
Carr was happy for Higgins and her big scoring night after she struggled with foul trouble in California's first four games. He added that he enjoys coach the Lady Pintos because of how many offensive weapons he has to work with that can have big scoring games.
"That's another good thing about this team. It could be anybody on any given night. With the position that Tayte plays on defense, she's probably a little prone to getting into foul trouble because she normally guarding the ball-handler," Carr said. "But she took advantage of that. She can take the ball to the basket very easily and she's one of our tallest players. She knows how to handle herself and she knows how to finish things."
With two wins under their belts, California earned a spot in the championship game against the Tipton Lady Cardinals, who won their tournament for five straight years. Tipton was also the defending Class 2 state champions.
Both teams struggled offensively in the first quarter with California ending the quarter with a 7-6 lead. However, the Lady Cardinals started to break the game open in the second quarter. Led by guard Charlee Bailey, the Lady Cardinals took a nine point lead into halftime. In the second half, California ran into a cold spell on offense. While the Cardinals continued to expand their lead, Bailey knocked down six three pointers in the game to lead Tipton to their six straight tournament title with a 60-36 win over California.
California shot 23 percent from the field (13-59), 9 percent from the three-point line (2-21) and 73 percent from the foul line (8-11). Tipton shot 35 percent from the field (17-49), 43 percent from the three-point line (10-23) and 80 percent from the foul line (16-20).
Bailey had 13 points, 12 rebounds and blocks. Rademan had seven points, three rebounds, an assist and a steal.
For Tipton, Bailey had a team-high 26 points, four rebounds, two assists and two steals. Guard Clara Williams had 14 points, five rebounds, and an assist. Forward Ava Schlotzhauer had 14 points (10-12 in free throws), seven rebounds and a steal.
Carr claimed that he was interested to see California's field goal percentage at the end of the game because of how many missed shots his team had. However, he acknowledged every team has games like this and he was still satisifed about the fact Califonia had won four of their first five games.
"In games like this, you always have to make sure that you learn from it, you're able to move on and correct the things that we can correct quickly for our game next week," Carr said.
The Lady Pintos host conference rival Southern Boone Tuesday night.
(Democrat photo/Evan Holmes)
Senior forward Ella Bailey had 13 points and 11 rebounds for California in the Tipton Tournament championship game against the Tipton Lady Cardinals.
(Democrat photo/Evan Holmes)
Kevin Carr has now won four of his first five games as head coach of the California Lady Pintos.
(Democrat photo/Evan Holmes)
Junior guard Allie Heather breaks away from the field for a layup against the Versailles Lady Tigers at the Tipton Tournament.
(Democrat photo/Evan Holmes)
Junior guard Kierstyn Lawson scored 12 points in California's 57-44 over the Eldon Lady Mustangs at the Tipton Tournament on Nov. 29.
(Democrat photo/Evan Holmes)
Sophomore Anna Boyd had six points, four rebounds and a block off the bench in California's win over Versailles at the Tipton Tournament.
(Democrat photo/Evan Holmes)
Senior forward Isabelle Rohrbach backs down her defender in the Tipton Tournament on Saturday night.
(Democrat photo/Evan Holmes)
Tayte Higgins wins the opening tip for the Lady Pintos against the Tipton Lady Cardinals in the Tipton Tournament championship game.
(Democrat photo/Evan Holmes)
Sophomore guard Hailey Rademan sets up an assist for a teammate at the Tipton Tournament.
(Democrat photo/Evan Holmes)
Sophomore forward Peyton Dunham hits three straight free throws for California against Versailles at the Tipton Tournament.
(Democrat photo/Evan Holmes)
Hailey Rademan boxes out her Eldon defender for a rebound in the Tipton Tournament.