MEDORA — Coach Malik Cook-Stroupe is anxious to see how much his Medora girls basketball team improves for Saturday’ game at Rising Sun after the Lady Hornets fell 63-21 to New Washington on Thursday night.
“I’m looking for growth because usually, your second game is always a lot better,” Cook-Stroupe said. “I felt we had a lot of nerves tonight. I feel come Saturday, those nerves shouldn’t be there. We’ve got to come back a lot better, and we’ve got to be ready to play.”
He had his team work on fundamentals in practice on Friday.
“We need to work on passing and catching, being strong with the ball, making quicker decisions, all that that just comes with playing a lot of basketball,” Cook-Stroupe said after the Hornets committed 10 of their 16 turnovers in the first quarter to fall behind 15-3.
Jenna Bowers nailed a 3-pointer on Medora’s first possession of the game, but that was the only points the Hornets scored in the first period, as the Mustangs scored the next 15.
Bowers made a free throw nine seconds into the second period to make it a 15-4 game, but the offense again went cold, as the Mustangs took a 33-4 lead at the half.
The Mustangs increased their lead to 41-4 two minutes into the third period before Brelee Underwood made a layup at 4:40 of the quarter.
Bowers added a basket and Marissa Lichtley hit two free throws for the Medora points in the third quarter.
“We just need to play and get all the kinks out and watch it on film and go in and practice and practice.” Cook-Stroupe said. “We need to secure the ball first. We have to start catching it to at least get a shot attempt. It’s kind of hard to draw anything when you can’t catch the ball.”
Three of the Hornets players were unable to participate for various reasons, leaving Cook-Stroupe with only six players. Bowers topped the Hornets in scoring with 12 points.
Lichtley, a senior who is in her first year of playing, scored seven points and had three rebounds, and Underwood topped the Hornets with eight rebounds.
Kaidin James topped the Mustangs with 22 points and nine rebounds. Sami Mattingly scored 12 points, and Olivia Bower added 10 points.
Cook-Stroupe said he liked Underwood’s effort under the basket.
“I love Brelee,” he said. “Brelee is nasty down there. She plays hard. She gets upset and she might throw an elbow too hard sometimes, but she’s physical, and I am glad we have her.”
Medora’s next home game is Nov. 14 against Hauser.
High school basketball
New Washington;15;18;19;11;—;63
Medora;3;1;6;11;—;21
Individual statistics
Medora: Jenna Bowers 5 1-5 12, Marissa Lichtley 2 2-3 7, Brelee Underwood 1 0-2 2, Greer Brown 0 0-2 0, Peyton Spence 0 0-2 0, Heavenlee Brown 0 0-0 0
New Washington: Olivia Bower 5 0-0, 10, Kaidin James 10 2-2 22, Sami Mattingly 3 3-4 12, Kristyn Greenwell 3 0-1 6, Kaylee Lawrence 3 0-0 6, Izzy Ford 1 0-0 2, Emily Bottorff 1 3-4 5
3-point goals: M (Bowers, Lichtley), NW (Mattingly 3)
Rebounds: M 15 (Underwood 8, Spence 5), NW 32 (James 9, Bottorff 8)
Fouls: M 8, NW 12
Turnovers: M 16, NW 8