Leyton Girls Win Streak at Four

After a slow start to the season, the Leyton Lady Warriors basketball team picked up three more wins over the last week to build momentum going into the holiday break.

On Friday, Leyton hosted the McPherson County Lady Longhorns, and employed their press defense to get off to a quick start and build a commanding 30-to-12 halftime advantage. The second half of the game had the teams matching scores, with both teams scoring 18 points each, but Leyton's impressive first half proved too much for the Lady Longhorns to overcome, and the Lady Warriors took the victory with a 48-to-30 final score.

Leyton sophomore Ella Draper scored 15 points and senior Danielle Higgins tallied 14 in the victory.

On Saturday, the Lady Warriors traveled to Hemingford to face the Lady Bobcats, and after a slow start, the girls were able to battle back to shave the Hemingford lead to just one point at halftime, 21-to-20. In the second half, Leyton's adjustments proved to be the deciding factor in the game's final outcome.

Leyton head coach Lance Howitt explained, "At halftime down by one, we made an adjustment to help our man-to-man defense shut down Hemingford's leading scorer. The girls executed this defense very well, and we held them to 14 points in the second half."

The Lady Warriors outscored the Lady Bobcats 29-to-14 in the second half, propelling them to a 50-to-34 victory to put their win streak at three.

"The girls are playing very well as a team and we're finding the open girls for easy baskets which allows us to set our defense and play aggressively," said Howitt.

Junior Madelyn Watchorn led the Lady Warriors with 19 points in the victory.

On Tuesday, The Lady Warriors hosted the Arthur County Lady Wolves in Dalton, and opened the game fast, building a 8-to-2 lead until Arthur County called a timeout at 5:34 in the first period. The timeout proved ineffective, as Arthur called another timeout trailing 13-to-4 at 3:16 in the first. The Leyton girls were very effective defensively, limiting the Lady Wolves to outside shots, and covering the boards to snatch defensive rebounds. The first period ended with Leyton up 16-to-5, led by the hustle of sophomore Ella Draper, while Arthur struggled with turnovers, bad passes, and traveling calls.

Arthur County was able to narrow the lead in the beginning of the second period, with Leyton misfiring on their first two possessions, while the Lady Wolves were able to convert for points on their first two tries. The Lady Wolves were also able to work the ball more effectively on offense and grab offensive boards, while Leyton's shooting went cold and the lead narrowed to 18-to-13 at the 5:16 mark of the second period. 5'10" Arthur County sophomore Gracie Wenzel did a good job in the second period covering Watchorn, limiting her effectiveness on the inside and preventing easy scores for the Lady Warriors. But both defenses started to toughen, and the Lady Wolves lost their shooting touch and missed opportunities to score off of short shot attempts. Leyton found their scoring groove again, and started to pull away. The Arthur team hung tough, however, prompting two charging calls within a minute span against Watchorn and senior Mariah Draper, which limited the Leyton lead to 24-to-15 at the half.

Leyton head coach commented on the first half, saying, "We got Arthur County out of their press right away and got some easy scores, but then we had to work hard for our points. I thought we got pushed around a little on the boards, so we will work on being a little tougher over the Christmas break."

As the second half started, both teams continued the physical defense, with Arthur causing two Leyton traveling violations within a minute's span, but at the expense of quickly building up their foul tally. The Lady Wolves were able to trim the deficit to five points at 27-to-22, and continued to apply pressure causing more turnovers and traveling calls, but were unable to consistently capitalize on their own scoring opportunities. Leyton held a 32-to-22 lead starting the fourth, and Arthur's aggressiveness put Leyton in the bonus for the remainder of the game. The fouling strategy ended up not working for Arthur, as the Leyton girls were sharp at the foul line while maintaining their steady defensive play. Leyton was able to pull away in the final period for a 47-to-32 victory.

Howitt commented on the final quarter of the game, noting, "We showed some clutch free throw shooting in the fourth period to ice the win."

Howitt added, "We have two big games over the break at Haxtun (Jan. 3) and at Hay Springs (Jan. 5). We need to just keep building on our four game winning streak and play good basketball heading into the MAC Tournament."