SEYMOUR
Trinity Lutheran girls basketball Coach Mike Lang says it is always nice to see a balanced scoring attack from the Cougars.
“It’s a team win,” he said after the Cougars defeated New Washington 60-48 Saturday night in the Bollinger Athletic Complex.
“It was a good team win. We put four players in double figures,” he said. “They did a good job taking Sydney [Jaynes] and Bailey [Tabeling] away early on in the game.”
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It’s the second time this season the Cougars have had four players score in double figures.
Tabeling finished with 23 points and Jaynes scored 10 and pulled down seven rebounds.
“It’s always got to be the next person up,” Lang said about his two main scoring threats being taken away early.
Emma Schepman and Kailene Cockerham were those players to step up. Schepman scored 16 and hauled in a team-high 12 rebounds. Cockerham added 11.
Both point totals are season highs for the sophomores.
“We did a good job of moving the ball,” Lang said. “They hit the open spots. We did a lot of standing early on. We can’t stand on offense. We’ve got to pass, we’ve got to cut when we face that type of defense because we know we’re going to continue to see it.
“Any time [Jaynes] touched it, two people went to her, and they were face-guarding Bailey early on," Lang continued. "Really, it was a 2-3 zone and they did a nice job playing it. To Sydney’s credit, she found a lot of open people, and wasn’t really forcing her shot or anything.”
Jaynes managed to get open for two baskets and a free throw in the first quarter when the Cougars held a 10-9 lead.
Cockerham hit two 3-pointers, and Schepman scored two baskets and a free throw in the second period to help Trinity take a 24-13 lead at the break.
Trinity held a 37-22 lead midway through the third period following a rebound basket by Schepman before the Mustangs closed to 39-31 at the end of the quarter, and the visitors scored the first basket of the final period.
The Cougars (15-2) then went on a 13-0 run to open a 52-33 lead and the closest the Mustangs came after that was the final 12-point difference.
Tabeling scored six straight points for Trinity in the middle of the rally, and 14 points in the final quarter.
“What we wanted to do late in the game, we wanted to get them in transition,” Lang said. “That is when we were able to pull away a little bit.”
Taylor James topped the Mustangs (6-10) with 16 points.
The Cougars will be home to Greenwood Christian Tuesday, and will travel to West Washington Thursday.
“We’ve got two big ones coming up,” Lang said. “January is a tough stretch for us.”