Lady Badgers clipped by Lady Hawks 28-27
In their first away game for the 2015-2016 season, the BFHS Lady Badgers basketball team were unable to overcome a tough fourth quarter, losing to the Lady Hawks 28-27 at Lakeland High School Saturday.
“This is the first time this season we played a team that zoned us,” said BFHS Head Coach Chris Chatburn. “Even though we practiced on it all week, we didn’t adjust or react to it very well.”
The Lady Badgers led most of the game, taking a 10-point lead into the third quarter. Bonners Ferry was only able to score five points in the final frame, however, letting Lakeland back in the game. Turnovers, according to Chatburn, were also an issue.
“For us, it was all about turnovers,” he said. “We shot 11 for 39, which is about 15 fewer shots than we averaged the first couple of games. And that can be be attributed to our turnovers, we had 30 for the game. A good percentage of those were unforced turnovers, either in transition after we got a stop or just in trying to run our offense. We were a little impatient offensively, and that really cost us.”
Chatburn said the Lady Badgers are a young team, with little experience at the varsity level. These first few games are part of a learning process as the girls establish an identity.
“It was a bit disappointing because we had a great week of practice,” he said. “So I was really surprised by the outcome. We had some players play really well. Kassy Skeen played extremely well, especially defensively, she was a real force for us. Trinity Golder shot the ball real well for us, finishing with 10 points. and Miranda Wenk came off the bench for us, and played really well. We’re searching for an identity, and that’s a continuing process.”
As for practice this week, Chatburn said the Lady Badgers will continue to work on their offense. With Newport on the horizon, the scouting report on the Lady Grizzlies is they also run a tough zone defense.
“The zone Newport plays is a little different than Lakeland, Newport runs a 3-2 mostly,” Chatburn said. “It creates some different spots on the floor where we can take advantage. One thing we have to work on is patience and execution. We like to be an up-tempo team and really get into it, and sometimes it takes a little more patience than that. I would say that’s my fault for not preaching that last week as much as I should have.”
Chatburn was pleased with his team’s defense against Lakeland, as the Lady Badgers held the Lady Hawks to five points in the first half.
“You couldn’t play much better defense in the first half than we did,” he said. “We had a few breakdowns defensively in the second half, but overall, in my estimation, if we can hold teams under 30 points, we should win.”
Trinity Golder led the way for the Lady Badgers offensively, scoring 10 points. Kassy Skeen and Miranda Wenk each netted six points apiece, and the scoring was rounded out by Kadi Bateman with four points and Kerstin Oxford with three. Wenk led the team in rebounds with eight, followed by Golder with six.
The Lady Badgers (2-1) host Newport Saturday at 2:45 p.m., and Chatburn thinks his team matches up well with the Lady Griz.
“They’re really going to be similar to Lakeland,” he said. “They’re not incredibly skilled, but they play hard and they’ll try to make it a slow-paced game. We’re going to try to do just the opposite.We’re going to work on pressuring them a lot this week. If we play them at their pace, that’s to their advantage.
Our advantage is to get up and down the floor and really push the tempo. I think we’ll be faster and deeper than them.”
Statistics
3-point goals - Bodak.
Total fouls - Bonners Ferry 19, Lakeland 16.
Fouled out - None.
Technicals - None.
Scoring
Bonners Ferry
Bauer 0 0-0 0, Skeen 2 0-0 4, Oxford 1 1-2 3, Spangler 0 0-0 0, Wenk 2 2-2 6, Coughlin 0 0-0 0, Bateman 2 0-0 4, Donn 0 0-0 0, Webster 0 0-0 0, Golder 4 2-2 10, Davis 0 0-0 0, Totals 11 5-6 27.
Lakeland
St. Mark 0 0-0 0, Bunch 0 0-0 0, Proskish 0 0-0 0, Edinger 0 0-0 0, Bodak 1 1-3 4, Kirk 5 0-0 10, Charles 0 0-0 0, Pruitt 3 2-2 8, Dowd 0 0-0 0, Bilski 3 0-0 6, Totals 12 3-5 28.