By KYLE MANTHE
Special to TopSports.news
Through the middle two quarters of their Centennial League opener Tuesday night, the No. 7-ranked Washburn Rural girls basketball team went on a 35-0 run against Junction City en route to a 50-9 home win.
“(We were) obviously a little rusty coming off the break,” said Washburn Rural coach Kevin Bordewick. “But we will take a 'W' anytime. It’s a credit to the kids and how hard they are working.”
Blue Jay sophomore Sasha Cebula scored a layup in the first minute of the second quarter to make the game, 10-5.
It was about the only highlight for Junction City (1-6 overall, 0-1 league) on the night as the Lady Blues (4-2, 1-0) scored the final 20 points of the quarter to lead 30-5 at the break.
“We’ve got a lot of things we can do on offense to create better looks for us, but, when we have a couple of kids hit some outside shots and some 3s, like we did, it just opens up everything,” Bordewick said.
All 30 first-half points for Rural came from seniors Brooklyn DeLeye and Chloe Carlgren and junior Zoe Canfield. The trio of starters combined to score 39 for the game.
Washburn Rural scored the first 15 points out of halftime before the run was stopped at 35 points. The Lady Blues' run was spearheaded on the defensive end, with Rural holding Junction City to only 22 shot attempts in the game, compared to more than 50 for Washburn Rural.
“We picked up our intensity on defense a little bit and got some fastbreak opportunities,” Bordewick said. “I think we need to convert a little better on them but that kind of got us going.”
The Junior Blues made wholesale substitutions for most of the second half, with 12 players seeing action in the game. Only two combined points were scored in the running-clock fourth quarter, giving Washburn Rural the 41-point win.
“It’s always nice to see what they can do against varsity level competition,” Bordewick said. “I was overall pretty happy with how everybody on the roster played. Everybody who played contributed in a pretty good way.”
DeLeye had 17 points for the Lady Blues on eight of nine shooting from the floor. Canfield knocked down three triples and finished with 13 points, while Carlgren added nine.
Senior Addy Hatcher led the Blue Jays with four points.
Washburn Rural will stay in town but head on the road Friday night to face Hayden.
WASHBURN RURAL GIRLS 50, JUNCTION CITY 9
Junction City 3 2 4 0 -- 9
Washburn Rural 10 20 18 2 -- 50
Junction City (1-6, 0-1) – York 0-0 0-0 0, DeGuzman 0-3 0-0 0, Jeter 1-3 0-0 3, Hatcher 1-7 1-2 4, Harley 0-0 0-0 0, Cebula 1-3 0-6 2, O’Neal 0-6 0-0 0, Jimence 0-0 0-0 0, Holloway 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 3-22 1-8 9.
Washburn Rural (4-2, 1-0) – Schroeder 0-2 0-0 0, Horyna 0-1 0-0 0, Lutz 1-6 1-2 3, Hinck 0-3 0-0 0, C. Carlgren 4-7 1-1 9, Ochs 1-7 0-0 2, Canfield 5-13 0-0 13, Bunck 1-1 0-0 3, J. Carlgren 1-3 0-0 3, Haggard 0-2 0-0 0, Walker 0-0 0-0 0, DeLeye 8-9 0-3 17. Totals 21-54 2-6 50.
3-point goals – Junction City 2 (Jeter, Hatcher), Washburn Rural 6 (Canfield 3, DeLeye, Bunck, J. Carlgren), Total fouls – Junction City 7, Washburn Rural 12. Fouled out – None. Technical fouls – None.