The NMMI Lady
Colts handedly took care of the Hagerman Lady ‘Cats Thursday night, and added
to their win column with a 51-34 road victory.
This one was a
runaway.
Bianca Walker led
her team scoring 18 points for the Lady Colts and point guard Reonnah Coates accounted
for 12 points including two three-pointers to lead NMMI to another road win.
“Bianca
controlled the paint. Anything within 12 feet was hers,” Lady Cat’s head coach
Justin Gossett said. “She started changing our shot selection,”
After a
nostalgic first quarter, the Lady ‘Cats closed the lead within reach with just
four points standing in their way heading into the locker room at the half.
“I was
double-teamed a lot, and that was difficult to get around,” Walker said.
Gossett said his
team made a good comeback, and their press was holding up.
“After the half,
we just couldn’t get our energy level back up,” Gossett said.
One of the Lady
‘Cats key players, Taylor Hamill, was uncharacteristically quiet scoring 10
points.
Without much
depth, Gossett had to bring some eight graders into the mix. This included
Taylor’s younger sister Hannah, who made herself known in the third quarter
with a critical jumper.
The Lady Colts
were opportunistic in the second half, correcting their mistakes.
“We had many
turnovers in the first half. I told them in the locker room, we can not be
turning over the ball that many times are else we ill loose, and my girls
listened tonight,” Lady Colt’s head coach Marisha Olesinski said.
Olesinski said
she was extremely impressed with Walker’s performance, even though she missed
some shots; she controlled the defense in the paint with 15 blocks.
“Our passes were
good, and we were there,” Walker said. “We played good, and it was great game
for us. We learn from our mistakes and work on what we did wrong.”
After a couple
of losses, Olesinski said her team played all four quarters aggressively.
“It was very
important for us to win tonight, and especially because we lost the last few
games. We really are better than our record indicates,” Olesinski said, “and I
am very proud of the girls.”
Walker said
their team came together, and did the best they could in the second half.
Gossett said the
loss was disappointing, and his team started shooting completely different with
pressure from NMMI, and their baskets just wouldn’t drop.
Looking forward,
Gossett hopes to improve on passing, and convert on turnovers instead of making
mistakes and turnovers themselves.
