The Langford Area girls basketball team won three more games this season than a year ago and with just two seniors graduating from this year’s club Coach Michael Alberts thinks the Lady Lions are on the right track.
LA posted a 7-14 mark this season and gave SoDak 16 qualifier Northwestern a battle in Region 1B quarterfinal play before dropping a 10-point decision. Meagan Gustafson and Tawnee Nelson were the only seniors on this year’s roster.
“Our girls played hard all year and we put ourselves in better positions to win games,” noted Alberts. “We were competitive and learned a lot about how to handle close game situations that should help us in the future.”
Gustafson led the Lady Lions in a number of categories to wrap up her prep career. She averaged 14 points and eight rebounds per game while shooting 35% from the field and 29% from three-point range. She also led the team in steals with 2.6 per outing and blocked shots with 1.8 per contest.
Freshman Alex Darling was the top three-point shooter, hitting 33 shots from downtown, and she ranked second on the squad in scoring with a 10point average. She was also the team’s best shooter from the charity stripe, hitting 66% of her tries, and led the squad in assists with 2.7 per game, steals with 2.7 per contest, and was second in free throw percentage at 58%.
Junior Eliana Darling was second on the team in rebounding with seven per game, led the squad in offensive boards with 2.9 per contest, and was fourth in steals and fifth in scoring with 3.3 ppg. Nelson was fourth in scoring at 4.4 ppg, third in free throw percentage at 57%, assists with 1.4, and rebounding with 3.7, and fourth in rebounding with 3.5 and steals at 1.5.
Sophomore Paytyn Marlow was third in scoring with a 5.5point average, ranked second in assists with 1.6 per game and second in steals at 2.4 per outing. Freshman Lizzie Gustafson averaged 2.3 points per outing, 3.4 rebounds, 1.2 assists, and 1.1 steals per game.