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ORIENT – It went down to the wire, but a four-man Diagonal team fell just short of a win over Orient-Macksburg Tuesday night. The Bulldogs pulled out a 49-45 win over the Maroonettes on their home floor.
Despite leading late in the game, the lead was never safe as a resilient and feisty Maroonette team battled to keep it at a one score game with just over a minute left to play.
A basket from O-M’s Cortney Gross made the contest 47-43 with a minute on the clock, but free throws from Anna Newton pulled the score back to a one possession game.
Caitlyn Gist was able to find twine to make it a four-point game, proving to be enough as Diagonal couldn’t get another score as time expired.
Early in the second half the struggles started to build for the Maroonettes with Kerrigan Mobley fouling out. Due to Diagonal dressing only five players, they proceeded to finish the contest in a four-on-five scenario.
O-M head coach Kim DeJongh knew this was going to be a point of attack for her team.
“It worked to our advantage, by them getting down to four players,” said DeJongh. “... It was a point of emphasis. We went into halftime with them having two girls with three fouls, so we were attempting to attack them to hopefully get it to the situation of having four.”
After practicing for it, but never experiencing it, the Maroonettes were prepared for playing a man down.
“That was our first time we’ve played with four to end the game, but we have rehearsed it because of the chance of being in that scenario,” said Diagonal head coach Gina Warren. “I was proud of how the girls played because we got in foul trouble early, so we had to change from playing how we were. ... The fouling just hurt us, we got two fouls early and lost Kerrigan, so the four just had to manage.”
Diagonal opened the game on a roll, connecting on four threes for its first scores from the field. Leading by as much as 11 at one point, the Maroonettes cooled themselves off once they realized the potential of foul trouble.
“We’ve been shooting really well and as far as that, that was our high to lead into a win, but we got into foul trouble. We had to change our plan and go a different route,” Warren said.
The cooling off saw the Bulldogs take the lead at 27-26 off a Kaela Eslinger 3-pointer. An 11-0 run pushed O-M ahead at 31-26, a lead that was held until the final horn despite Diagonal staying within comeback distance.
Over the last few games DeJongh has been impressed with the looks some of the players have been getting
“The last couple of games we’ve had some great looks at getting some other people open and scoring, which is going to help open up our offense a little bit, so not everyone will need to key in on Kaela every time,” DeJongh said.
O-M’s Gist had the team high with 16. Kaela Eslinger scored 15 and Hailey Johnson scored 10.
Diagonal was led in scoring by Anna Newton’s 16 points. Erin Sobotka scored 13 and Alaina Whittington scored 10.
UP NEXT – O-M will play Friday on the road with Twin Cedars at 6 p.m. Diagonal will play Thursday against Essex at home at 6 p.m.
O-M 49, Diagonal 45
Dia (45) — 11 10 11 13
O-M (49) — 4 16 20 9
DIAGONAL (FG FT PTS) — Totals —15 6-18 45. Anna Newton 5 2-6 16, Erin Sobotka 4 2-6 13, Alaina Whittington 4 2-6 10, Kerrigan Mobley 2 0-0 6. 3-point goals – 9 (Newton 4, Sobotka 3, Mobley 2). Team fouls — 15. Fouled out — Mobley.
ORIENT-MACKSBURG (FG FT PTS) — Totals — 19 5-11 49. Caitlyn Gist 6 1-4 16, Kaela Eslinger 5 3-4 15, Hailey Johnson 4 1-3 10, Cortney Gross 2 0-0 4, Christa Cass 1 0-0 2, Draven Pierce 1 0-0 2. 3-point goals – 3 (Eslinger 2, Johnson 1). Team fouls — 14. Fouled out — Gross.