The Lady Spoofhounds showed a night and day difference from their dominant win over Savannah on Friday to their narrow 61-58 victory Monday at Lathrop.
“We were a little unprepared, a little unmotivated,” head coach Grant Hageman said. “Lathrop came out and they were looking to push the ball hard and we just weren’t quite ready for the first half. We kind of got caught on our heels and we never really recovered after the first half.”
The ’Hounds did manage to salvage a 27-27 tie going into halftime.
During the intermission, Hageman told his players they had to step up after finding themselves in a position they had discussed prior to tip off. He said that the game against Lathrop posed as a threat due to factors including the big emotional win the Friday before, a long bus ride and the short recovery time from Friday’s game to Monday’s road trip.
After leaving the locker room for the second half, Hageman said he felt the team got the message and learned their lesson from the rocky start.
“We played better in the second half, but the problem was Lathrop had so much confidence from the first half, so much momentum,” Hageman said. “It’s hard to stop a team on their home floor. Their crowd was into it and we didn’t have a whole lot of people there. Not a lot of people are going to come to Lathrop for a Monday game. We were fighting all those factors and we played better, stepped up, and had some seniors hit some big shots.”
Senior Meridee Scott led all the scorers with a game-high 21 points, while junior Molly Stiens contributed 16 points. Scott scored 15 of her points from three-point land.
“Molly was one of the few girls who didn’t have a ‘deer in the headlights’ look in the first half,” Hageman said. “She hit four shots in the second quarter that kept us in the game.”
Lathrop’s defense was able to hold Scott to four points going into halftime, but soon found out what the all-state point guard was capable of.
“In the second half she knew she was going to have to step up and hit some shots when they presented themselves and she did,” Hageman said. “She got some open shots and knocked them down. Then we ran some plays for her when she got hot and the team executed great and got her the ball where she could score. She did what she does.”
The ’Hounds now turn their attention to a tough conference stretch, starting with Smithville and Alex Olson.
Maryville hosts Smithville Wednesday evening at home with Junior Varsity playing first at 5:30.
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