Panthers drop league game to Tigers
Playing a second game in as many nights, the Concordia High School girls' basketball team was unable to overcome a slow start in suffering a 54-25 North Central Kansas League loss to Clay Center Tuesday night in the Concordia Junior-Senior High School gymnasium.
The Panthers, coming off a loss at Clifton-Clyde on Monday night following the semester break, struggled against Clay Center's full-court pressure early on and went more than six and a half minutes to start the game without scoring.
Clay Center, 4-2 overall and 2-1 in league play, went up by as many as 19 points in the first half.
Concordia, 2-5 overall and 1-2 in the NCKL, got untracked offensively in the second half but couldn't gain ground on the Tigers.
“The girls just need to learn how to play with pressure. It is mental. They just psych themselves out of being able to handle pressure,” Concordia coach Carly Bloomfield said of the early struggles in the game. “They just need to have more confidence with dribbling and passing. I think they are afraid to make a turnover, which then results in a turnover versus being confident and attacking the defense.”
Four different players scored as Clay Center got off to a 10-0 start in the game.
The Panthers would not score in the game until Cianna DeLeon connected on a jumper with 1:28 remaining in the first quarter to make it 10-2.
Concordia would then go nearly six minutes in the period without scoring.
Clay Center used a 12-0 run to open up a 22-2 advantage.
Erinae Flesher made one of two free throws with 2:03 to play in the first half to end the Panther scoring drought.
Baskets by DeLeon and Carlie Carlgren left Concordia trailing 22-7 at halftime.
DeLeon scored the first points of the second half, and the Panthers were down 22-9.
Clay Center got a bucket by Lauren Smith, but Hanna Acree buried a three-point shot to get Concordia within 12 points, 24-12.
“I think it just kind of goes back to confidence. Once you get that first and second bucket, and kind of just slow down and realize you can break the press, you don't have to go so fast, then they are able to find their rhythm,” Bloomfield said.
A jumper by Hali Bloomdahl and five straight points by Shelby Siebold put Clay Center on top, 31-12.
The two teams traded baskets over the final four minutes of the third quarter, and the Tigers led 37-19 going into the fourth.
Clay Center scored the first four points of the final period to make it 41-19.
Concordia got a basket by Kenlee Williams to make it 41-21.
The Tigers tossed in the next 11 points in pulling away to the win.
DeLeon and Carlgren scored six points each for Concordia.
Clay Center had three players score in double figures, led by Siebold with 20 points.
Hailee Bent scored 11 points and Bloomdahl added 10.
Concordia will play a league game at Wamego on Friday night.
“We are going to work a lot on being more confident against ball pressure because I know Wamego is going to do the same thing, if not better, than Clay Center,” Bloomfield said.
CLAY CENTER (54)
Weller 0-0-1 0, McCann 0-0-2 0, Bend 5-0-2 11, Siebold 9-2-0 20, Bloomdahl 5-0-0 10, Schurle 1-2-0 4, Spielman 4-1-1 9. Totals: 24-4-6 54.
CONCORDIA (25)
Parker 0-0-1 0, DeLeon 3-0-1 6, Acree 2-0-2 5, Flesher 0-3-0 3, Carlgren 3-0-3 6, Williams 1-0-1 2, Britt 1-0-0 2, McDaniel 0-1-1 1. Totals: 10-4-13 25.