HUMBOLDT On a night when their offense misfired on occasion, Humboldt Highs girls turned to what they know best defense to emerge victorious Friday.
The Lady Cubs focused on slowing visiting Cherryvales high-octane offense, to the tune of a 52-39 victory.
The win is Humboldts third in a row and lifts the Lady Cubs record to 4-4 on the season.
They like to be a team that runs and guns, Humboldt head coach Aubrey Jones said. We wanted to slow them down and make them play our game.
Mission accomplished.
The Lady Cubs clogged passing lanes, raced back on defense and put just enough pressure on Cherryvales ball handlers to keep the Chargers off track most of the night.
Meanwhile, Humboldts Maggie Johnson drilled three of four 3-point attempts in the first half as the Lady Cubs forged a 25-15 cushion.
Humboldts offense stalled through much of the third quarter before a pair of key offensive rebounds on missed free throws turned the tide.
The first came from sophomore Jada Dangerfield; the second from Aricah McCall.
Cherryvale sliced the deficit to nine points early in the fourth quarter before Maggie Johnson, Kylie Johnson and McCall each had key buckets.
The lead ballooned back to 18 before both teams plugged in their reserves.
Maggie Johnson led the way with 15 points. Winter Snyder turned several second-chance buckets into an 11-point night. Kaylie Johnson followed with nine.
Maggie definitely helped us early, Jones said. Winter had some great plays, and Kaylie Johnson had some huge plays. She drove in and either dumped it off or took it to the bucket to draw fouls. They all contributed and worked hard. Its nice to have Jada back. Were taking it slow.
Lexi Umbarger scored 11 to pace the Chargers.
Humboldt opens the Pleasanton Midseason Tournament at 4 p.m. Tuesday against Oswego.
The Lady Cubs are the three-time defending champions.
We have a title to defend, Jones said. Three of them. Its time to get a fourth.
Cherryvale (7-8-8-1639) (FG/3pt): Forman 2-0-1-4, Umbarger 3/1-2-3-11, McGhee 1-0-3-2, Poole 3-0-2-6, Vining 1-0-2-2, Catlin 0-3-0-3, Monroy 2-0-5-4, McRoberts 2-1-1-5, Hughes 0-0-1-0, Wilson 1-0-0-2. TOTALS: 15/1-6-18-39.
