Bulldogs girls play tough defense in win

HAMPTON—-- The Hampton-Dumont-CAL Bulldogs girls basketball team held the Iowa Falls-Alden Cadets in check during the Bulldogs’ 45-30 win on Jan. 7. The Bulldogs improved to 10-0 on the year following the win.

Head coach Miranda Stafford said that a positive for the Bulldogs after coming back from break is how the Bulldogs had to grind out the win and play hard.

“We had to go get a win tonight,” Stafford said. “They played really hard and so we had to face a little adversity when shots aren’t going in and things aren’t going your way. You have to play defense and rely on that and create turnovers and that helped us.”

The Bulldogs jumped out to a 16-9 lead in the first quarter. Both teams struggled to get much going on offense in the second quarter as the Bulldogs outscored the Cadets 5-4 to make it a 21-31 game at halftime. The Bulldogs then added to their lead by outscoring the Cadets 16-11 in the third quarter to make it a 37-24 game and in the fourth quarter it was a defensive struggle once again as the Bulldogs outscored the Cadets 8-5 in the final quarter.

The Bulldogs allowed less than 10 points in three of the four quarters in the win and Stafford said that in the fourth quarter in particular that the Bulldogs’ experience played a key in the team’s success.

“They started communicating a little bit better in the fourth quarter making them get a little bit more on the path and our energy level really elevated in the fourth quarter because they didn’t want to lose,” Stafford said.

With two wins in two games since coming back from the winter break, Stafford said that the team is where they want to be record wise but there are still some things the team can work on.

“We have to get fundamentally better at being more consistent on the offensive end,” Stafford said. “Defense, if we can keep them and hold them down then I feel confident. We have to get better reps on the offensive end and become a little bit more cohesive on the offensive end.”

The Bulldogs went 17-for-52 from the field for a 32.7 shooting percentage and went 3-for-19 from the three-point line and 8-for-13 front the free-throw line. Jordan Valley scored a game-high 17 points, Lily Hambly added 11 points, Charlee Morton scored seven points, Brooklyn Valley scored six points, MacKenzy Valley added three points, and Kenzie Moorehead scored one point. The team had 10 assists in the game, Brooklyn Valley led the team with five assists, MacKenzy Valley added two assists, Jordan Valley, Hambly, and Addison Aalbers all added one assist each.

The Bulldogs had 13 steals in the game and forced 21 total turnovers. Brooklyn Valley led the team with five steals, MacKenzy Valley had three steals, Jordan Valley and Hambly both had two steals each, and Morton had one steal.

The team’s next game is at home on Jan. 16. against Pocahontas Area at 6:15 p.m.