By William / www.mcpherson-county-ks.com
MCPHERSON – Except for the first quarter it was a runaway and hide type of game for the McPherson girls on Tuesday as they closed out the pre-holiday break end of their 2021-22 schedule with a blasting of Buhler, winning by 48 points, 63-15.
Buhler managed to stay within nine by the end of the first quarter as the Lady Bullpups only led 16-7, the most points scored by Buhler the entire game.
While the Lady Crusaders began to unravel on offense and turn the ball over again and again, McPherson put 23 points on the board in the second quarter to take a commanding 29-point lead at 39-10 into the halftime break.
After coming out of the break with a 16-0 run, the Lady Bullpups held Buhler to just five points in the final two quarters on their way to the final 48-point victory.
It was the work of the McPherson defense that had the edge on the young Buhler team as they forced the Lady Crusaders into 33 turnovers, including a whopping 25 steals of which 16 were made by the trio of Chloe Clevenger, Lauren Labertew and Karter Alvord with Clevenger getting six while both Labertew and Alvord each recorded five.
Buhler struggled shooting throughout the game as they connected on just 23% of their shot attempts while the Lady Bullpups made 44% of their shots.
McPherson also dominated in the paint as they recorded an amazing 22 offensive rebounds on their way to a team total of 37 overall while Buhler only managed to grab 19 total.
Individually, the Lady Bullpups were led by Karter Alvord, Chloe Clevenger and Peyton Howard with Alvord having a strong second half to lead the team with 17 points while Clevenger used a huge first half to bank 15 points. Howard just missed a double double as she scored 10 points while pulling down nine rebounds.
While Lauren Labertew may have only put six points by her name in the stat book, she also had eight rebounds and dished out a team high six assists to go with her five steals.
In was much the same in the junior varsity game as the Lady Bullpup JV squad scored a 41-point, 56-15 win over Buhler led by Jordan Sears and Jayla McLeod who scored 18 and 10 points, respectively. The Lady Bullpup junior varsity heads into the holiday break unbeaten at 5-0.
WHAT’S NEXT FOR “AREA TEAM”?
Now 3-3 on the season heading into the holiday break, the Lady Bullpups will return to the competitive hardwood on Friday, January 7 when they make a road trip to Winfield.
Buhler at MCPHERSON LADY BULLPUPS
SCORING: 1 2 3 4 FINAL
Buhler 7 3 4 1 15
LADY BULLPUPS 16 23 20 4 63
TEAM STATS: Buhler LADY BULLPUPS
Shooting 6/26 (23%) 28/63 (44%)
3-Pointers 2/9 (22%) 5/20 (25%)
Free Throws 1/2 (50%) 2/5 (40%)
Rebounds (Off/Def) 19 (4/15) 37 (22/15)
Assists 4 17
Turnovers 33 12
Steals 4 25
Blocked Shots 1 1
Personal Fouls 7 7
MCPHERSON LADY BULLPUPS INDIVIDUAL SCORING & STAT LEADERS:
Scoring (63 Total Points): Karter Alvord – 17; Chloe Clevenger – 15; Peyton Howard – 10; Lauren Labertew – 6; Ella Schmid – 4; Jayla McLeod – 4; Reanna Eilrich – 4; Madi Moors – 3.
Three-Pointers Made (5): Karter Alvord – 3; Chloe Clevenger, Madi Moors – 1.
Rebound Leaders: Peyton Howard – 9; Lauren Labertew – 8; Ella Schmid, Karter Alvord, Reanna Eilrich – 4.
Assist Leader: Lauren Labertew – 6; Karter Alvord, Reanna Eilrich, Alexis Dukes – 2.
Leader in Steals: Chloe Clevenger – 6; Lauren Labertew, Karter Alvord – 5; Ella Schmid, Madi Moors – 3.
Leader in Blocked Shots: Jayla McLeod – 1.