Lyndon’s full-court press wreaked havoc on the Madison offense, helping to force 27 turnovers in the Lady Tigers’ 60-54 victory in the opening round of the Lyon County League Tournament Monday.
Lyndon coach Frank Hart made the defensive switch in the second quarter, hoping it would get his team to play more aggressively.
The setup worked so well that the Lady Tigers used it the rest of the game.
“I didn’t know if we’d be able to do that as long as we did, but good things started happening for us,” Hart said. “We kept the pressure full-court and made some big plays.”
Meanwhile, Madison was left disappointed after leading by as many as 13 points in the second quarter.
Lady Bulldogs coach Megan McGuire said she never did feel comfortable with her team’s advantage.
“We’re young,” McGuire said, “and I was worried about our focus.”
Lyndon jumped out to a 14-13 first-quarter lead before Madison forward Shelby Buster started to take over the game.
The freshman scored the first six points of the second quarter to lead the Lady Bulldogs on an 9-0 run.
Buster finished with 13 points and nine boards in the second quarter alone, helping Madison to a 33-20 advantage with 1:19 to play in the half.
“That was our gameplan — look down to her,” McGuire said. “I thought we entered the ball pretty well.”
Lyndon made its big move in the third quarter after entering the break down 33-25.
The Lady Tigers forced 12 turnovers in the frame, starting on a 13-4 run to regain the lead at 38-37. They were also helped by Buster picking up her fourth foul, which forced her to the bench with 3:13 remaining in the third quarter.
“They started pressing us, and we weren’t sure what to do about it,” McGuire said. “We panicked, and we weren’t patient with the ball.”
Though Buster regained her form in the fourth quarter — scoring nine straight Madison points during a four-minute stretch — Lyndon held on to a slim lead. After her team missed four consecutive free throws, Chelsea Schmitz helped seal the game, calmly sinking two shots from the line with 36 seconds left to give the Lady Tigers a 57-52 advantage.
Krista Banzhaf led Lyndon, scoring 19 points. Ashley Persinger added 13, making 5 of her 7 shots from the floor.
Schmitz contributed double figures as well, posting 11 points, which included three 3-pointers.
Buster finished with gaudy numbers for Madison, scoring 26 points to go along with 14 rebounds. She made her first six shots and finished 10-of-13 from the floor.
Morgan Stout chipped in nine in the loss.
Lyndon (8-2) will face the winner of the Flinthills-Chase County game on at 4:30 p.m. Friday. Madison (5-5) will play the loser of the Flinthills-Chase County matchup at 4 on Thursday.
LYNDON girls 60, MADISON 54
Madison 13 20 9 12 — 54
Lyndon 14 11 18 17 — 60
Madison (5-5) — Shelby Buster 10 6-8 26, Morgan Stout 3 3-4 9, Bridget Mitchell 3 2-2 8, Jamie Raaf 2 0-0 5, Jessica Hudson 1 0-0 3, Tera Titus 0 3-4 3.
Lyndon (8-2) — Krista Banzhaf 8 0-3 19, Ashley Persinger 5 2-4 13, Chelsea Schmitz 3 2-2 11, Stephanie Goetz 3 2-4 8, Cara Bolz 2 3-4 7, Kayla Schmidt 0 2-2 2.
Halftime — Madison 33-25. Total fouls — Madison 21, Lyndon 18. Fouled out — Madison: Buster.
MdCV girls 31,
Burlingame 24
The No. 9-seeded Marais des Cygnes Valley girls used a 15-2 second-quarter scoring outburst to turn an 8-2 deficit into a 17-10 halftime lead over the No. 8 seed, Burlingame, and the Lady Trojans went on to win 31-24 in the first play-in game of the Lyon County League Tournament.
Marais des Cygnes Valley’s Jessica Bell and Rachel Clark keyed the scoring in the second period, as each hit three shots from the field to account for 12 of their team’s 15 points in the quarter.
After the half, Burlingame (2-7) managed to gain some slight ground on Marais des Cygnes Valley (2-8) by outscoring the Lady Trojans 7-6 in the third period, but it would not be enough, as Marais des Cygnes scored eight points in the fourth to Burlingame’s seven.
Clark finished as the game’s high scorer with 12 points. Bell finished with six points and Jessica Schmidt had five. Meghan Atchison led Burlingame with eight points.
With the victory, Marais des Cygnes Valley advanced to face top-seed Olpe (9-0) at 7 p.m. tonight. Burlingame will face No. 7-seeded Hartford (3-7) at 9 a.m. on Saturday.
MdCV girls 31, BURLINGAME 24
MdCV 2 15 6 8 — 31
Burlingame 8 2 7 7 — 24
Marais des Cygnes Valley (2-8) — Schmidt 5, Lemmon 2, Russell 2, Bell 6, Clark 12, Visitacion 4.
Burlingame (2-7) — Burgess 3, Atchison 8, Vandevord 6, Fagan 3, Hoie 4.
Halftime — 17-10. Total fouls — MdCV 11, Burlingame 14. Fouled out — None.
Chase County girls 43, Hartford 33
Behind the strength of nine points from Marie Hunt and another seven points from Sam Archer in the second half, the Chase County girls outscored Hartford 25-11 after halftime to turn a 22-18 deficit at the break into a 43-33 victory in the first round of the Lyon County League Tournament.
Archer hit her third 3-pointer of the game out of the intermission to help spur the Chase County comeback, and the Lady Bulldogs (1-9) hit five field goals in the third period to just two for Hartford, and 10th-seeded Chase County went into the fourth quarter up, 31-28.
Hartford (3-7), the seventh seed, was forced to foul late in the fourth period to try and keep Chase County within reach, but Chase County went 6-for-11 from the free-throw line to seal the Lady Bulldogs’ victory.
Hunt and Clark led the way for Chase County with 13 and 12 points, respectively, while Jessica Cartee had 11 points to pace Hartford.
Chase County moved on to face No. 2-seeded Flinthills (7-2) at 4 p.m. today, while Hartford will go against Burlingame (2-7) at 9 a.m. on Saturday.
CHASE COUNTY girls 43, HARTFORD 33
Chase Co. 7 11 13 12 — 43
Hartford 5 17 6 5 — 33
Chase Co. (1-9) — Archer 12, Wells 2, Shull 8, Hunt 13, Whitney 3, Puma 2, Carr 3.
Hartford (3-7) — Cartee 11, Schmidt 4, Hamman 7, Lyon 3, Bolen 8.
Halftime — Hartford 22-18. Total fouls — Chase Co. 13, Hartford 12. Fouled out — None.