Defensive adjustments propel Woodland Cardinals to triumph against Scott City

The Woodland Cardinals girls basketball team defeated the Scott City Rams 64-38 on Wednesday at Scott City High School.

Four Cardinals scored in double figures with Mallory Barks leading the way with 16 points, Addy Massa with 12 and Maci McIntyre with 10.

Hayden Collier and Lilian Landis led the Rams with 15 and 12, respectively.

Woodland led 18-12 after the first quarter. Both teams scored most of their points in the paint, as only one three fell for each team. The Cardinals got more chances because of some Rams turnovers, allowing Woodland to score fast-break points.

The second began well for the Rams, as Skylar Watson hit back-to-back threes to take a 19-18 lead and force Woodland into a timeout. Scott City kept the Cardinals out of the paint and held a 25-25 tie at the half.

Woodland head coach Paul Lynch said he was not happy with the first half his team played.

“To be honest, I didn't really like anything about the first half. I’m gonna give credit to Scott City, they had a nice game plan, their girls played hard and shot the ball well’ Lynch said. “We’re struggling right now to get into a rhythm with our team, but I felt like in the second half, we were able to make some adjustments at halftime, and we came out with a little bit more focus.”

A different Woodland team came out of the locker room as they held the Rams to two points in the quarter and built a 48-27 lead through tough defense leading to easy transition buckets.

The fourth was a solid repeat of the third as Woodland cruised to the win. Lynch said the third quarter was the turning point for his team.

“We do focus on defense first before offense, but sometimes when you get some shots, you kind of get a little confidence going, and it kind of helps to carry over to the defensive side,” Lynch said. “We started rebounding better. We rebounded much better in the third quarter, and we finished around the basket, and that was the difference in the third quarter.”

Moving ahead the Cardinals have three home games in a row before finishing on the road at Cape Central. Lynch said it’s important his team hit their stride before the postseason begins.

“Our goal is always to be peaking at district time and with weather and illness, we haven't really been very consistent for about the last month or so. It's been really crazy here,” Lynch said. “We’re hoping, over the next couple of weeks of playing games, even with tough competition, that we can learn from each game and get better and be ready to go into districts.”

Woodland next hosts Fredericktown on Thursday at 6 p.m. while Scott City hosts Scott County Central also on Thursday at 6 p.m.