Lady Devils humble Huskies for the second time
By Owen Yancher,
BlueDevilHUB.com Staff–
Usually when a basketball team thrashes its opponent by 23 points, you don’t expect the next meeting between the two teams to be a close game. That was not the case Wednesday night at the Cage.
After putting the game away easily last time, the Davis High women’s basketball team (10-13, 5-5) had to fight hard all game, eventually pulling out a 68-59 win over the visiting Sheldon Huskies (5-17, 1-9) on Feb. 3.
Sophomore Kelsey Forrester drove the Davis offense with 18 points and six assists, with juniors Tessa Malone (11 points, nine rebounds) and Alyssa Lengtat (10 points, six rebounds) right behind.
Malone, who is usually a Devil threat on the defensive end, had one of her better offensive performances Tuesday.
“I talked with her right after the first quarter and reminded her about a drive and kick drill we do every day in practice,” head coach Heather Highshoe said. “She came out in the second quarter and bang, bang, bang had some quick shots, so it was nice to see her finish more around the rim.”
Davis finished the first frame with a 14-point advantage over the Huskies, 19-5, but a slow second quarter allowed Sheldon to crawl back within eight by halftime, 36-28.
“They got hot,” Highshoe said. “Our defense went flat and we weren’t closing out aggressively or recognizing where their shooters were.”
A stronger third quarter helped the Devils broaden their lead. A three ball from junior Cara Satre (six points, three rebounds) and an and-one sequence from senior Rachael Allison (seven points, three rebounds) put Davis up by 15.
In the final eight minutes, the Huskies turned on the jets, hitting a couple of shots from downtown and capitalizing on some free throw attempts. But by the time Sheldon pulled back within 10, less than a minute remained in regulation.
Davis still sits in the fifth spot in the Delta League standings, but only one win separates the Lady Blue Devils from third-ranked Pleasant Grove Eagles.
“We need to take care of business every night,” Highshoe said. “We have another home game now to come out, have fun and get ourselves up in those rankings.”
That next home game, on Friday, Feb. 5, is a league match-up against the fourth-seeded Franklin Wildcats.
