By ANDREW GILL
TopSports.news
In a game where neither team shot the ball well, crashing the offensive glass was what made the difference in Washburn Rural’s 56-45 Centennial League girls basketball win at Hayden.
Of Rural’s 40 total rebounds, 21 of them came on the offensive end. With both teams shooting just 38 percent from the field, every second-chance bucket mattered.
Brooklyn DeLeye
Despite more bench minutes than usual due to 3 first half fouls, sophomore Brooklyn DeLeye scored the game high 19 points and added 9 rebounds for the Lady Blues. Junior teammate Emma Krueger wasn’t far behind with a 16-point effort, also grabbing 9 boards.
Emma Krueger
Hayden senior Rhen Calhoon (13 points, 7 rebounds) also saw some extra bench time due to early foul trouble in a very physical first half.
“You come into a place like Hayden and it’s always tough. It doesn’t matter what our records are – it’s always tough,” Washburn Rural coach Kevin Bordewick said. “I have to give a lot of credit to Carvel (Reynoldson) and his group. They’re a man down (Macy Smith out for the season), but they fought and scrapped. They played well.''.
It looked as if the Lady Blues would take a comfortable lead into halftime until Hayden managed to force 4 turnovers and go on a scoring run that tied the game at 27.
DeLeye scored 4 points in the first 30 seconds after the break to help Rural reclaim the lead, which the Junior Blues never lost.
Junior Campbell Bagshaw was also a heavy contributor for Washburn Rural, scoring 9 points and collecting 8 rebounds. Freshman Jada Ingram fouled out with 4 points, 9 rebounds and 2 blocks.
“I think we can play better. We have to play smarter for sure, but we found a way to persevere,” Bordewick said.
Junior Carly Stuke tied Calhoon for team-high scoring honors for Hayden with 13 points.
WASHBURN RURAL GIRLS 56, HAYDEN 45
Washburn Rural 18 9 14 15 – 56
Hayden 12 15 7 11 – 45
Washburn Rural -- Bagshaw 4 0-0 9, Lutz 2 0-0 6, Krueger 6 3-4 16, Hurtig 0 2-4 2, DeLeye 7 4-7 19, Ingram 2 0-3 4. Totals 21 8-18 56
Hayden -- Cruz 2 1-2 6, Calhoon 2 8-11 13, Moore 0 0-1 0, Stuke 5 0-0 13, Schmidtlein 1 1-2 4, Anguiano 0 0-2 0, Sandstrom 0 3-4 3, Lenherr 1 0-0 2, Huscher 2 0-0 4. Totals 13 13-24 45
