Lady Saints use huge runs to pass Pratt, 77-36

Thursday, 15 January 2009 00:00

Bailey Crandall draws two Pratt defenders Wednesday night at the
Greenhouse. Crandall came off the bench to turn in her best
performan ce in conference play, scoring 14 points for Seward in a
77-36 win.
Daily Leader photo/Rustin Watt

By Rustin Watt
•Daily Leader
The Lady Saints began Wednesday nights game with a stumble but
quickly regathered themselves to sprint to a 77-36 victory over the
Lady Beavers of Pratt.
Seward County came out a little slow to begin the game quickly down
five 7-2. The Lady Saints tied it up with a little more than 13
minutes to play 7-7, and again at 10-10.
“Early on I was definitely not happy,” Lady Saints coach Toby Wynn
said. “We weren’t efficient, we weren’t taking good shots, and we
weren’t doing what we needed to do with the basketball.”
Seward took the lead on an incredible run never to look back. After
being tied 10-10, Seward began one of their many runs of the night,
the first one a 14-2 run to double the Lady Beavers point total, 24-12.
“There was a point in there where our defense really created some
turnovers and we got some offensive baskets in transition,” Wynn
said. “Rachel Barnes hit a couple threes to get us going, too, which
was big.”
Immediately following the end of their first run the Lady Saints
would go on a 10-3 run to go up 34-15. They continued to pressure on
the defensive side of the ball and score in transition and ended the
half with a 43-20 lead.
The second half Seward clicked on all cylinders putting up 36 points
and only allowing Pratt to score 16. Even though it was a blowout,
the Saints tenacious defense and drive can make it seem as though
they are the team that is down.
“Even when we are ahead we want to make sure and stay sharp
offensively,” Wynn said. “You don’t want to just come down and start
having careless turnovers or take bad shots. Defensively as well. We
want to stay sharp and make sure we’re guarding the basketball. You
still play to prepare all year long. You’re just trying to prepare
for the next game and that’s something we try and focus on.”
Seward finished with a 77-36 conference win, and looked hungry for
the upcoming game with Cloud County Saturday night in Concordia.
“We’ll be excited to play,” Wynn said. “To try and win a conference
title, you have to win games on the road, and if we can do that
against the best team then that will be a big step for us.”
Three Lady Saints ended the game scoring double digits. Leading
Seward was Amanda Pierson with 17, Rachel Barnes scored 16, and
Bailey Crandall came off the bench to score 14.