HUMBOLDT — The Humboldt High girls earned their Class 3A first round substate playoff game victory against Douglass by being the more aggressive team on Monday night.
The Lady Cubs (9-12) got behind the play of Carsyn Haviland and Karley Wools and stood strong defensively while dominating in the paint in a 54-30 victory.
A McKenna Jones three and a Shelby Shaughnessy layup gave Humboldt an early 9-0 advantage midway through the first quarter. Avery Roberts of Douglass hit a three to bring the score within 11-7 with only a minute left in the first.
A layup by Wools gave the Lady Cubs a 15-7 advantage at the end of the first quarter.
“Defensively, I thought we were firing on all cylinders,” said Humboldt head coach Aubrey Jones. “We controlled the boards and we absolutely made that our mission. I really felt like my two seniors, Carsyn and Karley, led the charge.”
Douglass got close again in the beginning of the second quarter when a Madison Wagner three brought the team within three, 15-12. Humboldt then went on a 7-0 scoring run, led by some layups off the fingers of Shaughnessy and Haviland to grab a 21-12 lead.
Jones put Humboldt ahead by double digits at halftime when she drained a three with a minute to go to give Humboldt a 26-15 halftime lead over Douglass.
Kenisyn Hottenstein knocked down a two-point jumper a few minutes into the second half stretching Humboldt’s lead to 30-17. Haviland and Shaughnessy went for another couple of layups near the end of the third for a 43-21 lead.
The Lady Cubs kept a 20-point lead for the rest of the game. Wools rolled in nine points in the fourth quarter, six points coming on driving layups. Wools led the final scoring charge and helped Humboldt take a 54-30 victory.
“They (seniors) know that it’s do or die time and it probably means the most to them at this point,” said Jones. “They’ve seen the other seniors go through it. We just wanted to be the aggressor and wanted to make sure we weren’t waiting. We wanted to do the attacking.”
Haviland and Wools led the Humboldt offensive attack with 15 and 14 points, respectively. Jones also added 10 points and hit a trio of three-pointers.
Humboldt takes on Neodesha at Eureka High School in the second round of the Class 3A substate playoff tournament on Thursday at 6 p.m.
Humboldt (15/3-15-14—54) (FG/3pt-FT-F—TP): Jones 3-1-2-10, S. Hottenstein 1-0-0-2, K. Hottenstein 2-0-3-4, Shaughnessy 4-1-2-9, Haviland 3-9-3-15, Wools 5-4-3-14, Hull 0-0-1-0.
