By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
EMPORIA -- Hayden's girls basketball team wasn't always as sharp offensively as coach Carvel Reynoldson would like to see Thursday against Spring Hill.
But the Wildcats were very good defensively and effective in turning that defense into offense on the way to a 48-30 win over the Broncos in the opening game of the Paul Terry Classic at White Auditorium.
Hayden girls basketball coach Carvel Reynoldson talks to his team during a timeout in Thursday's 48-30 win over Spring Hill. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
"We were really balanced offensively but never got in a rhythm, especially in our half court,'' Reynoldson said. "A lot of things we got seemed to be in transition off of steals or off a rebound.
"We always talk about being relentless (on defense) and I thought today we were relentless on the ball, got a lot of deflections and early on it felt like all of our points were off of steals.''
Hayden, ranked No. 2 in Class 3A by the Kansas Basketball Coaches Association, never trailed after junior Kaliya Fulton scored the final points of the opening quarter to put the 2-0 Wildcats in front, 8-6.
But Spring Hill (0-2) was still very much in the hunt, trailing 21-17 at the half and 33-28 after three quarters, until Hayden pulled way with a 15-2 fourth quarter to turn the game into a rout.
Junior Norma Greco (left) led a balanced Hayden attack with 14 points in the Wildcats' 48-30 win over Spring Hill. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Junior Kaliya Fulton scored 11 points in Hayden's 48-30 win over Spring Hill in the Paul Terry Classic. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Hayden had four players score nine or more points in Thursday's win, led by junior Norma Greco with 14 points.
Fulton added 11 points before fouling out early in the fourth quarter while junior Brylee Meier had nine points and grabbed 13 rebounds and senior Lauren Sandstrom also scored nine points.
Hayden shot a so-so 38 percent from the field and 60.8 percent from the free throw line, but held Spring Hill to 27 percent shooting and forced 20 Bronco turnovers.
Spring Hill junior Sydney Buscher led all scorers with 19 points, but the rest of the Bronco team combined for just 11 points.
Hayden will be back in action at 6 p.m. Friday against tournament host Emporia.
HAYDEN GIRLS 48, SPRING HILL 30
Hayden 8 13 12 15 -- 48
Spring Hill 6 11 11 2 -- 30
Hayden (2-0) -- Grunert 0-6 0-0 0, Sandstrom 3-6 2-4 9, Fulton 2-8 6-7 11, Meier 4-10 0-3 9, Greco 5-9 4-4 14, Reid 1-1 1-2 3, Huscher 1-2 0-2 2, Foster 0-0 0-0 0, Connell 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 16-42 14-23 48.
Spring Hill (0-2) -- Bond 0-1 0-0 0, Herman 1-12 0-0 3, Buscher 8-14 3-7 19, Suter 1-5 0-0 2, Laplante 0-2 0-0 0, Meder 1-4 3-6 6, Harris 0-1 0-0 0, Feback 0-1 0-0 0, Rodden 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 11-41 6-13 30.
3-point goals -- Hayden 2 (Fulton, Meier), Spring Hill 2 (Meder, Herman). Total fouls -- Hayden 17, Spring Hill 17. Fouled out – Fulton.
