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With his team trailing the Belleville Wildcats 22-19 Wednesday Barneveld girls basketball coach Jim Myers knew he had to explain necessary adjustments to his team.
"Too many free throws," he told the girls. "Half their points the first half came from free throws."
So, the Golden Eagles cut down on fouls, got their defensive traps working and exploded for 20 third quarter points. That 20 spot the Eagles hung on the Wildcats helped pave the way for a 49-40 win in the championship game of the Candy Cane Classic.
Heidi Chapman put in six of the third quarter points and Hailey Cannoy drained a pair of three pointers. Madi Laube also hit one from long range and McKenzie Sporle contributed a two pointer.
Both teams scored 10 points the final frame.
It wasn't the scoring that caught Myers's eye. It was the defense.
For two reasons.
First they struggled with their first half offense.
"We had good looks but they didn't go in for us," Myers said about the first half shooting. "You can credit Belleville's defense for that. They did a good job with their positioning."
The changed in the third quarter when the Eagles found the range from outside.
Secondly the Eagles were consistent with their defense all day.
"I felt we played pretty solid defense," Myers said. "Our trap got us some turnovers and I thought we outworked them when it came to trapping."
"We defended them well enough to pull off the win," Myers said. "It was not our best game but we beat a very good defensive team."
Hailey Cannoy and Rachel Slaney both got into double figures for the Eagles with 10 points each. Riley Rung led the Wildcats with 18 and Haven Freidig added 11.
"This game should help us get ready for what's ahead," Myers said. "We know we can be behind at halftime and still battle back to win. We did that in both tournament games."
The Eagles host Six Rivers East foe Black Hawk Thursday in another battle of the unbeatens.
The Barneveld junior varsity also turned in two wins to take the JV crown.
The Eagles had two girls on the varsity all-tournament team. Hailey Cannoy and Rachel Slaney made it along with Belleville's Haven Freidig and Riley Rung, Platteville's Elisa Bilderback and Parkview's Molly Wellnitz.
SCORE BY QUARTERS
Ba 12 7 20 10 49
Be 8 14 8 10 40
BOX SCORE
BARNEVELD 49: (fg-ft-tp)
Sporle 2-0-4, Kleppe 1-0-3, Chapman 2-4-8, Laube 2-2-7, Meyer 2-0-5, Evans 1-0-2, Cannoy 4-0-10, Slaney 4-2-10 Totals 18-9/16-45 Fouls-15
BELLEVILLE 40: Hubbard 0-1-1, Anderson 2-0-4, R. Rung 6-3-18, C. Rung 0-2-2, Freidig 4-3-11, Walters 0-2-2 Totals 13-11/15-40 Fouls-17 Fouled out-C. Rung
3 point goals:
Ba-Cannoy 2, Kleppe 1, Meyer 1
Ba-R. Rung 3