MACKSVILLE — Macksville High School girls’ head basketball coach Nathaniel Norman said that he expected growing pains early this season.
Those pains were seen in the Lady Mustangs season-opener against Central Prairie League foe Ness City.
Macksville lost 52-33.
The Lady Eagles applied a full-court press in the first half that caused Macksville to turn the ball. Ness City held the Lady Mustangs to six points in the first half, jumping ahead 23-6.
“It’s a new group learning a new system,” Norman said. “They’re trying to adapt and learn some new terminology, so it made it difficult for them to settle in. There was a lot of turnovers.
“We’ve been stressing the basics, just passing and cutting when we’re denied over the three-point line. It’s something that is going to take some time.”
However, Macksville settled down in the second half, applying a strong defense of its own to cause the Lady Eagles to commit some turnovers.
The Lady Mustangs outscored Ness City 19-14 in the fourth quarter on the back of freshman Tara Bunker, who was the only player on either team in double figures with 10 points.
“Typically, we play her at the (center position),” Norman said of Bunker. “With a couple of our injuries, we moved her to more of a (shooting guard position). With our offense, it’s not difficult to make that transition. She definitely played hard.”
Bunker dropped in a pair of 3-pointers to score all of her points in the final eight minutes.
Karissa Langlios finished the game with nine points for the Mustangs, scoring five in the fourth quarter and finishing 5-for-6 from the free-throw line.
“It’s not something that we’ve been doing very well in practice, but we came down in the clutch and hit some shots from the free-point line,” Norman said. “Karissa has developed a good attack game. We’ve improved in our spacing and getting the ball in for attacks. Now we’ve shown that we can do well from the free-throw line.”

HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL

At Macksville

GIRLS

Friday

Ness City 52, Macksville 33
NESS CITY (1-0)
     Allison Seib 4 1-2 9, Erin Flax 4 0-0 8, Ashleigh Seib 3 0-0 6, Cailin Foos 3 0-0 6, Kylie Stoecklein 2 0-0 5, Tristan McVicker 2 0-0 4, Jessica Stieben 2 0-0 4, Joni Johnson 1 1-2 3, Jessie Rubottom 1 0-0 2, Chelsea Klitzke 1 0-0 2. Totals 24 3-6 52.
MACKSVILLE (0-1)
      Tara Bunker 4 0-0 10, Karissa Langlios 2 5-6 9, Alex Ponce 1 4-6 6, Bri Evans 1 0-0 2, Kiley Freeman 1 0-0 2, Clara Cross 1 0-0 2, Mindy Wood 1 0-1 2. Totals 11 9-13 33.
Ness City      12  11  15  14  —  52
Macksville     4    2    8   19  —  33
     Three-point goals — Macksville 2 (Bunker 2); Ness City 1 (Stoecklein).