SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- On a night at Glendale where it was senior night, the always-exciting Kickapoo-Glendale rivalry, and the night where there was fundraising for Coach Bell, the school's baseball coach who was recently diagnosed with ALS, there were plenty of reasons for the Lady Falcons to pull out the victory. They didn’t disappoint.
Glendale defeated Kickapoo 64-46 in a blowout.
The Lady Falcons got off to a quick start, outscoring Kickapoo 7-1 in just the first three minutes. Glendale's offense was clicking early, as they were able to get easy buckets inside. But most of Glendale’s offense came from their defense.
Kickapoo could not match the intensity of Glendale when the Lady Falcons were on defense. The Lady Chiefs scored only four points in the whole first quarter, and trailed by nine heading into the second.
"We came out with a lot of intensity and we wanted to set the tempo early and we did," Glendale head coach Renee Temple said.
Glendale's offense and defense only stepped up more as the game went on, forcing turnover after turnover and scoring possession after possession. Senior Rachel Schroff came off the bench to score 13 points in the game, six of which came in the first half off of two three pointers.
Senior Julia Wells also came up big for the Lady Falcons. Wells led all scorers with 17 points. Julia Wells did a good job of after forcing a turnover, running the middle of the floor and getting easy transition lay ups.
"I think the depth makes a big difference. Teams just can’t focus on one player," Coach Temple said.
Glendale had a 29-15 lead at halftime.
The second half did not prove to be much better for Kickapoo. Kickapoo could not make the halftime adjustments to get back in the game, allowing Glendale to extend their already large lead.
Lady Chiefs' senior point guard Annie Armstrong did improve her game in the second half, scoring 16 points in the game.
Glendale only looked like they were getting better as the game went on. Senior standout Megan Deines did not have much of an impact in the first half. In the second half however, she improved her game and finished the contest with 12 points. Another one of Glendale’s six seniors, Anna Clark had 10 points in the game. Clark's impact was more felt on the defensive end, as she was able to shut down Annie Armstrong for a large part of the first half.
"Megan controls the tempo for us," Coach Temple said. "But that has been a big focus for us, not worrying about who is the one scoring."
A late push by Kickapoo got them within 14 points, but Glendale’s early start was too much to overcome.
Glendale improved to 18-3 with the win, and is now near the top of the conference standings.
Scoring for Glendale: Julia Wells 17, Rachel Schroff 13, Megan Deines 12, Anna Clark 10, Kim Deines 6, Anna James 3, Kaitlin Shelton 3
Scoring for Kickapoo: Annie Armstrong 16, Natalie Closser 9, Erica Ewing 5, Zoe Allen 4, Jordyn Danzer 4, Lauren Rowland 4, Kaylee Gagnon 2, Hannah Schumacher 2
