The Langford Area girls basketball team is still looking for its first win but Coach Michael Alberts thinks his club is heading in the right direction.
The Lady Lions, now 0-4, battled Lemmon to the wire in the Langford Area Classic on Thursday before dropping a 33-28 decision. Estelline posted a 52-29 win in a makeup contest on Friday. This week LA plays at Herreid-Selby in a twin bill with the boys’s squad, and Saturday the Lady Lions will take on Redfield in the Redfield Classic.
“We did a lot of good things in both games,” said Alberts. “We are starting to get consistent play out of our girls, and they are starting to play together as a team. We have been getting better at some of our focuses at practice, like boxing out and rebounding, but we still are working on taking better care of the ball and finishing shots. Each of these games we have gotten better and want to keep improving from here.”
Lemmon 33 LA 28
Lemmon went on an 80 run during a two-minute stretch at the end of the third period and early in the fourth to take a five-point lead and didn’t trail again in a backand-forth contest. Both clubs were slow out of the gate with LA holding a 5-2 lead after one period on two buckets from Megan Gustafson and a free toss by Clarissa Guy. Then the lead changed five times in the second stanza before Alex Darling knotted the game at 12-all with a three-pointer. Lemmon added a pair of charity tosses to lead 14-12 at intermission.
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LA eighth grader Alex Darling passed out of a double team in the Langford Area Classic on Thursday and then scored 12 points to lead her team against Estelline on Friday.
Lemmon threatened to take charge early in the third period, leading 20-14 midway through the quarter. But LA went on a 9-0 run, fueled by a Montana Marlow trey and buckets from Darling, Paytyn Marlow, and Gustafson to lead 23-20 with 2:01 remaining in the third. That’s when Lemmon responded with its run to lead 28-23 just 23 seconds into the final period.
Gustafson put in a follow shot and Guy added a free toss and a fielder off a Darling assist to cut the margin to 30-28 with 2:32 to play, but the Lady Lions did not score again.
Gustafson led the Lady Lions with 10 points and 15 rebounds.
LEMMON: Allie Kohn 8 4-5 21, Emily Faughn 2 0-0 5, Jordyn Kohn 1 1-2 3, Kelly Lynch 1 0-4 2, Karly Riley 1 0-0 2. Totals 13 5-11 33.
LANGFORD AREA: Montana Marlow 1 0-0 3, Megan Gustafson 5 0-0 10, Eliana Darling 1 0-0 2, Paytyn Marlow 1 0-0 2, Clarissa Guy 1 2-4 4, Alex Darling 3 0-0 7. Totals 12-42 2-4 28.
Lemmon (1-3) 2 14 25 33 LA (0-3) 5 12 23 28 3-point goals – A. Kohn, Faughn; M. Marlow, A. Darling. Total fouls – Lemmon 12, LA 15.
Estelline 52 LA 29
Langford Area got off to a slow start, trailing 13-2 after one period, and was never able to cut into that deficit.
Alex Darling led the LA attack with 12 points, including a trio of three-pointers. Megan Gustafson added 11 points and eight rebounds, and Montana Marlow pulled down seven boards. Kylie Schock was credited with five assists.
LANGFORD AREA: Kylie Schock 1 0-0 2, Montana Marlow 0 2-3 2, Megan Gustafson 4 3-4 11, Tawnee Nelson 1 0-0 2, Paytyn Marlow 0 0-4 0, Alex Darling 3 3-4 12. Totals 9-27 8-15 29.
ESTELLINE: Sadie Johnson 6 11 14, Brooke Johnson 6 0-0 14, Kenzy Beare 3 5-6 11, Madelyn Ebbers 2 0-0 5, Claire Dagel 2 0-2 4, Presly Bury 1 00 2, Ayla Lexley 1 0-0 2. Totals 21 6-9 52.
LA (0-4) 2 13 20 29 Estelline (2-2) 13 27 40 52 3-point goals – A. Darling 3; B. Johnson 2, S. Johnson, Ebbers. Total fouls – LA 9, Estelline 10.
