Aberdeen Christian had a strong second half, but could not overcome a slow start in the first half on Thursday night.
The Knights fell 43-35 to Waubay-Summit in a non-conference girls’ basketball game at the Civic Arena.
Waubay-Summit opened up an early lead in the first quarter thanks in part to four 3-pointers, including a series of three in a row that allowed the Mustangs to extend a 12-7 lead into a 21-7 advantage.
Knights coach Cristian Martinez said while the team started slow, it kept fighting for the remainder of the game.
“It was hard to see it,” Martinez said of the slow start. “It’s just one quarter and we had to compete for the next three, and we came back pretty hard.”
Waubay-Summit freshman Peyton Rumpza said the Mustangs felt confident with their shots early in the contest.
“We had a good warm-up shot, and really moved the ball well and hit the shots early,” Rumpza said.
The Mustangs carried their momentum into the second quarter and built a 31-15 halftime lead.
Waubay-Summit coach Sarah Strang said the team needed to come out with intensity in the first half in order to build the lead.
“We’ve been preaching all year to have high intensity, high defense, so we pressured them early, got some steals, got some points that way,” Strang said.
Christian senior Chloe Bosma said the difference in the first half was the number of 3-point baskets made for both teams as the Knights failed to make a shot from beyond the arc.
“They were making a lot of outside shots and I don’t think we took very many,” Bosma said. “So, I feel like that was the difference in the first half, at least.”
In the third quarter, Aberdeen Christian outscored Waubay-Summit 10-5 by using an aggressive defense that forced the Mustangs into turnovers, some of which led to transition baskets for the Knights.
“We adjusted our defense,” Bosma said of the second-half defense.” We switched the zones we were doing, kind of back and forth to throw them off a little bit, and adjusted to their posts and their outside shooter.”
Rumpza gave credit to the Knights’ intensity entering the second half, which caused problems for the Mustangs.
“I think they came out with a little more intensity in the second half than we did,” Rumpza said. “We kind of settled and we just didn’t move the ball as much, or not quick enough, and didn’t take good shots.”
The Knights continued to control the game with their defense in the fourth quarter, only giving up 12 second half points while scoring 20 of their own. However, it was not enough to overcome the early deficit.
“I feel great,” Martinez said of his team’s second-half defense. “The last three games we’ve been focusing on defense, and that’s the key. We’ve been practicing hard, and I know the work is not done yet, but we’re going to continue.”
Rumpza led Waubay-Summit with 16 points, while Eva Benike, who scored her 1,000th career point on Tuesday, added 15.
Rumpza said she wanted to help lead her team to victory on Thursday.
“Try and be a leader,” Rumpza said. “Just looking up to all of the seniors from the past two years really helped me and wanted to come out here and play good.”
Christian was led by Bosma with 14 points, while Sophia Fogarty had eight and Chloe Holt tallied six.
The Mustangs (7-4) will host Warner next Friday. Strang said the team will look to find areas to improve upon before the next game.
“I tell them every game if we play good or bad that you’ve got to learn something from it,” Strang said. “Find something that you’re going to improve on in practice and we’ve just got to pick out the good things we did and the bad things, and go forward with that.”
The Knights (0-9) play Oldham-Ramona-Rutland in the Dakota Valley Conference Classic at 11 a.m. on Saturday in Elkton.
Martinez said the team will work on making several improvements for that contest.
“Talking a little bit, fixing some of the problems we have,” Martinez said. “We’re going to go back to each individual player in practice.”
WAUBAY-SUMMIT (7-4): Peyton Rumpza 7 2-4 16, Eva Benike 5 2-4 15, Faith Larson 2 0-0 5, Madison Zirbel 2 1-4 5, Ava Breske 0 2-2 2. Totals 16 7-14 43.
ABERDEEN CHRISTIAN (0-9): Bailey Hunstad 1 0-0 2, Sophia Fogarty 4 0-0 8, Jolie Fogarty 1 0-0 2, Chloe Holt 3 0-0 6, Chloe Bosma 5 3-5 14, Payton Skarin 1 0-2 2. Totals 15 3-7 35.
Waubay-Summit 23 31 36 43
Aberdeen Christian 9 15 25 35
3-point field goals – Benike (3), Larson; Bosma. Total fouls – Waubay-Summit 5; Aberdeen Christian 8.
