YODER – The Southeast High School girls’ basketball team swept Saratoga and Big Horn over the weekend to get back above .500 on the season.
On Thursday, the Lady Cyclones used a big fourth quarter to fend off a third-quarter surge by the Lady Panthers in a 44-27 victory.
Southeast raced out to a seven-point lead in the first quarter, pushing the advantage to 16-6 midway through the second quarter.
The Lady Cyclone defense didn’t allow the visitors to score their first field goal until two minutes into the second quarter.
“I thought we played well at times. It was like the first game of the season again. I saw some good things,” coach Jennifer Scheer said. “Offensively, we had a lot of good looks, but we just didn’t finish. Defensively, I saw a lot of really good things.”
However, the Lady Panthers weren’t going to go away.
By halftime Saratoga had cut the Lady Cyclone lead to 20-16.
Foul trouble in the first half forced Jennifer Scheer to change her lineup up, allowing the Lady Panthers to stay in the ballgame.
“We were in a little bit of foul trouble, and we had to sit some kids. We had some different lineups in, and that wasn’t helping us offensively,” Scheer said. “Putting them at the foul line was keeping in the game. There is no question about it. Half their points the entire night came at the foul line. That’s us being lazy on defense and putting them there.”
Coming out of the locker room, the Lady Cyclones pushed their lead back to double digits, but much like the second quarter, Saratoga cut the Southeast lead in half late in the third quarter.
Finally, in the fourth quarter, a 3-pointer by sophomore Kealy Carson sparked the late game surge by the Lady Cyclones.
Over the final eight minutes, Southeast outscored Saratoga, 14-4.
“As the game got longer and we could get the right players and the right combinations back on the floor, it really helps us,” Scheer said.
Sophomore Sydney Anderson led the Lady Cyclones with 10 points, while sophomore Brenna Herring added nine and junior Grace Desmond had nine each.
On Saturday, the Lady Cyclones faced the daunting task of the long bus ride and an early tipoff time at Big Horn.
“It’s a big game for us. It’s a long trip. Those are tough, but this is where you start developing the mental capacity to compete later on in the year,” Scheer said. “It is a welcome challenge and hope we can fix a few things and see what happens.”
Southeast was up to the challenge, rolling to a 46-15 victory over the Big Horn Lady Rams.
Southeast limited Big Horn to only one point in the first quarter, and the Lady Cyclone lead grew for the remainder of the game.
Anderson and Herring led the team in scoring with 12 each, while Carson added 11. Herring grabbed a team-high 10 rebounds, while Anderson tallied five steals.
The Lady Cyclones (4-3) travels to Lingle to face the Lady Doggers (2-4) on Thursday. Tipoff is scheduled for 5:30 p.m.
