LARNED — The Hoisington High School girls’ basketball team took the lead in the first quarter and never relinquished it.
The Lady Cardinals beat Larned 52-27 on Friday night.
“I thought that the first half, we didn’t have much intensity,” Hoisington head coach Mandy Mason said of her team, which had a 25-17 lead at halftime. “I think defensively, we were flat. We didn’t work very hard. We stood around too much, standing flat footed. After halftime, we played very well defensively.
“We switched to man, trying to pick up the energy, and it worked well.”
Hoisington really broke out in the third quarter, starting a 11-0 run to begin the second half.
“I think we forced the shots right there at the start of the third quarter,” Larned head coach Allen Perez said. “I think we were just a little impatient there. We’re going to have to work on that. I was pleased with how we played tonight. We started forcing the ball, but we didn’t need to.
“I think the girls got excited. Their intensity had to pick up, but they really have to understand how the intensity has to pick up.”
The Lady Cardinals point guard Belle Brickley scored six of the 11 points during the run on her way to finishing with 12 points.
“That’s Belle,” Mason said. “She even took a hard fall, a bump, and she’s tough. She plays through being hurt. I think my response was she’s a warrior, but she does everything that we ask her to. She leads by example on the floor.”
Hoisington (5-1) was led by Mallory Flagor, who scored 18 points.
“They were squeezing in on her,” Mason said of Flagor. “They were double teaming her, and actually, Belle started shooting because the middle was so clogged. They were dropping in and making it difficult for us to get the ball inside. Belle started hitting some shots, so that helped get the middle open again.
“We run a couple of set plays for Mallory, and they kind of took that away from us. She does a good job of court awareness. She knows when she needs to dump it, and she does a great job finding the open player.”
Larned’s Bailey Schartz led her team with eight points. Katie Seeman added seven.
“Those two and (Danette) Unruh, those three are my leaders right now,” Perez said. “Two of them are seniors and one of them is a junior. They started out really good. I don’t know if they got tired, or what it was. They just started trying to force it. Trying to make things happen.”

HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL

At Larned

GIRLS

Friday

Hoisington 52, Larned 27
HOISINGTON (5-1)
     BreAnna Burns 3 0-0 6, Abby Rziha 1 0-0 2, Savannah Rose 2 3-6 7, Brandy Wondra 1 1-2 3, Bell Brickley 5 2-2 12, Blakelee Cooper 2 0-0 4, Mallory Flagor 7 4-6 18. Totals 21 10-16 52.
LARNED (2-2)
     Bailey Schartz 3 2-2 8, Reagan Quick 0 0-0 0, Katie Seeman 3 1-2 7, Danette Unruh 2 1-4 5, Tiara Diaz 3 0-2 7, Jessie Johnson 0 0-0 0. Totals 11 4-10 27.
Hoisington            16  9  13  14  —  52
Larned                   11  6   3    7  —  27
     Three-point goals — Hoisington (none); Larned 1 (Diaz).