'Stangs rebound, cruise by a whopping 71

 

All is well.

Concerning Mullen girls basketball, the sun came up on Thursday morning after Wednesday’s disappointing 20-point blowout loss at Cherry Creek, an anticipated meeting of the defending 4A Colorado champion Mustangs against the Bruins, 5A winners a season ago.

So Friday night’s 89-18 spanking of still-reloading Smoky Hill in the Centennial League at Hutchison Fieldhouse was important in more ways than one.

“Oh, for sure, it make us feel way better,” junior reserve guard Abby Webster said. “It was a real tough loss and we expected to do a lot better. It totally brings back our confidence.”

In improving to 9-4 overall, 3-1 in league, Mullen didn’t have to sweat much against the Buffaloes (3-10, 0-4), but getting back to executing, defending and winning can’t hurt.

“The defensive intensity was good,” Mustangs head coach Frank Cawley said. “It wasn’t a very challenging team, but it was good to get back to winning. We needed that ... everybody played pretty well, everybody scored and we tried some things. We played a zone defense to see what that looked like. It was good.”

With season highs of points and field goals (34), Mullen, which also had 71 points after three quarters, did whatever it wanted. Junior Megan Pohs led the way with 19 points in limited time and Webster had 15. Five others had at least seven in a blowout that gave the Mustangs’ swagger a chance to reappear.

“Now, we have another challenge,” Cawley said of heading to Cherokee Trail (10-3, 2-2) in Aurora on Wednesday, Jan. 22, in another league matchup.

Webster said that’s OK with the team.

“We can put (the Cherry Creek loss) behind us,” she said. “We can take it as a lesson and, obviously, we have to do some growing.”

 

Smoky Hill – Cupp 0 2-2 2, Tuom 2 1-3 5, Jay. Lindsey 2 0-2 5 , Jaz. Linsey 0 0-2 0, Taylor 0 0-2 0, Naastad 2 2-2 6, Johnson 0 0-0 0, Ruelas 0 0-0 0, Fifita 0 0-0 0. Totals 6 5-13 18.

Mullen – Pohs 8 0-0 19, Martinez 2 2-2 7, Van Horn 2 0-0 4, Perez 1 0-0 2, Gallegos 4 0-0 9, Dominguez 3 1-1 7, Oates-Stamm 2 2-4 7, Webster 5 3-5 15, Elges 2 0-0 5, Freelon 1 4-4 6, Gutierrez 4 0-0 8. Totals 34 12-16 89.

3-pt. goal – Jay. Lindsey; Pohs 3, Webster 2, Elges, Gallegos, Martinez, Oates-Stamm.