Langford Area’s Alex Darling and Paytyn Marlow set the tone early by opening the Region 1B girls basketball play-in game on Monday with three-point buckets and the Lady Lions cruised to a 42-18 win.
That win came on the heels of 49-28 victory over the Knights in the final regular season game last week Tuesday.
Coach Michael Alberts’ ballclub traveled to #2 seed Warner last night Tuesday with the winner of that game advancing to the regional semifinals on Thursday against the winner of the Tiospa Zina-Waubay/Summit contest.
“In both games, we were able to get off to good starts,” said Alberts. “They have a lot of length in their zone, and in both games we were able to hit shots from the outside. We still want to finish better around the rim, but we have been executing well to get good, open shots.
“Defensively, we were able to pressure Aberdeen Christian and force turnovers. We also made it hard for them to get a good shot off. I thought we did a lot better job boxing out and rebounding in our regional game with them.”
Aberdeen Christian did hit a couple of fielders to cut the margin to 8-4 in regional action with 3:10 left in the opening period, but then Alex Darling went to work.
The sophomore, who ended up with 26 points and six three-point hoops, kicked off a 17-0 run over an eight-minute stretch with back-to-back treys and added a couple of free tosses and a fastbreak bucket to boost LA to a 25-4 advantage. Another Darling trey, a Josie Jensen three-point play, a Brooklynn West free toss, and Darling’s fielder right before the buzzer gave LA a 34-9 halftime lead.
Darling ended up with 18 first half points and put the icing on the cake by scoring all eight of the Lady Lions’ points in the third period.
LA dominated the boards 31-18 and forced 25 AC turnovers in the contest.
ABERDEEN CHRISTIAN: Alicia Davis 1 0-0 2, Ari Johnson 1 0-0 2, Jolie Fogarty 2 0-2 5, Sophia Eichler 1 0-0 2, Jacie Fogarty 1 0-0 2, Lucy Jones 1 0-0 2, Erika Moulsoff 1 0-0 3. Totals 8 0-2 18.
LANGFORD AREA: Paytyn Marlow 1 0-0 3, Lizzie Gustafson 1 0-0 2, Alex Darling 9 2-2 26, Eliana Darling 2 1-2 5, Josie Jensen 1 1-3 3, Brooklyn West 0 1-2 1, Mariah Tosse 1 0-0 2. Totals 15 5-9 42.
AC (0-21) 4 9 11 18
LA (9-12) 16 34 42 42
3-point goals – Jolie Fogarty, Moulsoff; Marlow, A. Darling 6. Total fouls – AC 11, LA 7.
Langford Area 49
Aberdeen Christian 28
Langford Area used a big third quarter behind some strong outside shooting to take control against Aberdeen Christian in the regular season finale.
The Lady Lions led by 11 at halftime but exploded for 21 third quarter points as Paytyn Marlow connected on three shots from downtown and Alex Darling added a pair of treys to give LA a 44-24 advantage.
Marlow ended up with 21 points and five treys, while Darling hit four three-points and had 18 counters. Clarissa Guy grabbed seven rebounds. LA had just eight turnovers and forced 25 AC miscues.
LANGFORD AREA: Clarissa Guy 1 0-2 2, Paytyn Marlow 6 4-6 21, Lizzie Gustafson 1 0-0 2, Alex Darling 7 0-0 18, Eliana Darling 1 0-0 2, Josie Jensen 1 0-2 2, Mariah Tosse 1 0-0 2. Totals 18-55 4-10 49.
ABERDEEN CHRISTIAN: Alicia Davis 2 0-0 4, Ari Johnson 5 0-0 10, Jolie Fogarty 0 2-4 2, Sophia Eichler 2 0-0 4, Lucy Jones 1 0-0 2, Eri Cobbs 2 0-0 4, Jacie Fogarty 1 0-0 2. Totals 13-40 2-4 28.
LA (8-12) 10 23 44 49
AC (0-19) 4 12 24 28
3-point goals – Marlow 5, A. Darling 4. Total fouls – LA 4, AC 12.
