It was a late Christmas present, but a present the Huskies will not soon forget.
GAME PHOTOS: http://bit.ly/2SzzgX5
It was a late Christmas present, but a present the Huskies will not soon forget.
Cardinal defeated Berkshire 38-28 on Thursday evening, providing the Husky seniors with a win against their rival.
Entering the contest, the Cardinal seniors had a 1-5 record against the Badgers and wanted to earn a victory on their home court.
In dominate defensive fashion, the Huskies (4-5, 2-1 CVC Valley) earned their coveted victory.
“The only thing I wanted to do in my senior year was beat Berkshire,” said Cardinal senior Camille Cummins. “To do that was great for all of our seniors.”
“Senior year and last time playing them on our home court, and all we wanted to do was beat them one last time,” said Ashley Gubanyar. “It feels good we did it as a team together.
“Best Christmas present by far,” she added.
The Huskies controlled the tempo for most of the game by playing good defense. In the first three quarters, they limited the Badgers to 12 total points, including two in the first quarter and three in the third quarter.
Berkshire (5-4, 2-2 CVC Valley) had trouble with Cardinal’s zone defense, as they were unable to run their fast-paced offensive attack.
“I thought our defensive effort for 32 minutes was as good as I’ve seen it,” said Cardinal head coach Luke Kruse. “We mixed it up, and I think Berkshire had a tough time getting looks. That’s just a credit to our girls playing with effort, communicating on defense, taking responsibility for their assignments and following the game plan.”
Gubanyar felt the Huskies’ defensive effort prevented Berkshire from getting into their offense, while the defense prevented the Badgers from getting into their offensive set, allowing Cardinal to capitalize.
Cummins credited the outcome to the defense’s ability to pressure the ball handler.
“We put pressure on the ball and forced turnovers,” Cummins said. “We made them make mistakes.”
While the Husky defense was the talk of the night, Cardinal’s offense also played well.
“The second half, I thought we did a better job moving the ball,” said Kruse. “It’s been a major emphasis this week, knowing Berkshire is a full-court, man-to-man defensive kind of team. We wanted to make sure we broke through the press and setup our offense.”
Cummins and Annamarie Pollack each scored 12 points; Cummins added 15 rebounds.
For Berkshire first-year head coach James Bosley, his team’s effort was not there.
“At times our effort dipped a little bit, and we have runs where people buy in and just give it all they got,” Bosley said. “We just need to expand it and get them to play it for 32 minutes.”
Bosley said the Badgers’ performance was part of the learning experience, as the team is young, with only two seniors and two players with varsity experience. Additionally, they are all learning a new system.
Berkshire played its best basketball when the team was down double-digits in the fourth quarter.
“I tell them constantly: the team I see on the floor when we are down 10 is the best basketball we play,” said Bosley. “They play with so much more pace and energy. If we could play like that at the beginning of the game, we could change a lot of things.”
The game was taped by GTV and can be watched for free on-demand by visiting www.geaugatv.org.
