DIAGONAL — The Murray girls basketball team survived a cold shooting night to pull away from Diagonal for a 46-21 Bluegrass Conference victory here Friday.
Both teams started slowly, until Murray applied a fullcourt press that got the Lady Mustangs going.
After missing numerous shots around the basket, the fullcourt press helped get Murray into a rhythm.
“Poor shooting seems to be our middle name,” Murray head coach Jerry Shields said. “We missed so many easy shots around the basket. We have to get better touch around the basket.”
The Lady Mustangs built a 13-0 lead by the end of the first quarter and a 21-0 lead before Diagonal finally got on the scoreboard with 4:18 remaining in the second quarter.
Deena Snyder scored eight points for the Lady Mustangs during the 21-0 start, as Jade Lecy scored five of her seven points during that stretch.
“I thought our defense played really well tonight,” Shields said. “We stepped it up and got into passing lanes, got quite a few steals and quite a few takeaways, we just need to be able to finish around the basket. When we can get some steals out of that (press) and run the floor, we’re just a lot better team when we can run the floor.”
Cassidy Becker ended the Murray run with an offensive rebound and putback, sparking a quick 7-0 Diagonal run. Allison Norris also got an offensive board and putback and then Kasydi Klommhaus canned a 3-pointer from the top of the key to cut the score to 21-7.
A Snyder layup made it 23-7 at halftime.
Klommhaus knocked down another 3-pointer to start the second half, closing the score to 23-13, but Murray responded with a 10-1 run to put the game out of reach.
After Murray started the fourth quarter on a 13-0 run, Diagonal finished the game on an 8-0 run to make the final score 46-21.
Klommhaus led Diagonal with eight points, as Norris and Katie Sobotka each scored four points.
Snyder scored a game-high 10 points. Lecy chipped in seven points and Zadie Hatfield and Shelby Myers each netted six points for Murray. Madison Gonseth grabbed nine rebounds, while Myers finished with eight. Brandi Gilbert finished with six steals.
Murray improved to 2-1 for the season with the win, while Diagonal dropped to 1-3 for the season.