Grain Valley delivered Smith-Cotton girls basketball its first loss of the season with swift intensity.
The Eagles won the tip, opened the second half with an 11-0 run and had two players score 20 points apiece in a 71-40 Lady Tigers loss in the opening round of the Marshall Tournament in Marshall.
Freshman Sophie Martin led S-C with nine points. Darby Christian and Monique Grant scored eight points each, with scoring all her points in the second half.
Claire Rose and Kendyll Bailey had 20 points individually, and paced a Grain Valley offense that inspired Smith-Cotton head coach Jonathan Tester to push his team harder in practice.
“We have to keep working,” Tester said. “(Grain Valley) understands how to play basketball. My guess is they work hard – every day – in practice. That’s a very good team. It tells us where we need to get to and how hard we need to work.”
Grain Valley led 14-6 in the first quarter when Smith-Cotton guard Jessica Coble was tripped and landed on her knee. The Eagles went on a 10-0 run after Coble was assisted to the bench. She finished with seven points.
Smith-Cotton trailed 24-7 when Coble returned in the second quarter. She said the Lady Tigers are still learning to work together, and expects to run more in future practices.
“Lately in practice we’ve been running through our plays and trying to perfect those,” Coble said. “We’ll probably do more conditioning since this team out ran us and out worked us. We might have to do more physical stuff than mental stuff.”
As the Eagles built its lead, Smith-Cotton’s offense grew more frustrated. Darby Christian, after the Lady Tigers missed a couple shots down low, muttered “oh my gosh,” before scoring. The putback made it 41-17, Grain Valley two minutes before halftime.
Christian said the team can learn from Monday’s disappointing performance.
“I just knew we were better than what we were doing,” Christian said. “The last two practices we’ve had haven’t been the best, but, we just need to come back from this loss and realize what it’s done for us, and come back and do better.”
The Lady Tigers trailed 70-38 after Haley Wiskur found fellow freshman Martin for a layup.
Coble said the Smith-Cotton freshmen are playing well, and this season’s Lady Tigers have plenty of time to gel as a team and improve.
“Every team has a lot to work on,” Coble said. “But now it’s just critiquing the little things that can make a big difference in a game.”
Smith-Cotton (1-1) continue the Marshall Tournament 8:30 p.m. Wednesday at Marshall High School.
