Mississinewa dominates M-G at the Hoosier Gym

All season long, the Mississinewa Lady Indians have prided themselves on their defensive play.

On Saturday afternoon at the Hoosier Gym, they took it to another level.

A dominant first half set the tone, as the Indians raced out to a double-digit lead in the first quarter and never trailed in a 76-19 rout of the Madison-Grant Argylls.

Madison-Grant’s McKayla Sutton scored the first basket of the contest, but the Indians took over from there, scoring 28 straight points to put the game out of reach by halftime.

“It really came down to a combination of things in the first quarter,” Madison-Grant Head Coach Brandon Bradley said. “We were a little sloppy with the ball, but more importantly, we were allowing too many easy baskets and transition baskets.”

The Indians’ defense was active and aggressive all afternoon long, coming away with 25 steals, while their sheer size and experience gave them a big advantage on the offensive end of the floor.

“Defensively, we focused on really being dominant,” Mississinewa Head Coach Omega Tandy said. “We trapped a lot, and really tried to set the tone defensively. We did a good job of doing that. We also wanted to focus on making sure that once we got a steal or a rebound that we connected offensively, and we did that tonight.”

Caily Bolser led the way with 24 points, 10 rebounds, and a remarkable six blocks, while Riley McKee, Tyler Bartel, and Ally Hewitt also all finished in double figures. McKee scored 13, while Bartel and Hewitt both came away with 12.

Furthermore, the Indians played well on the glass, coming away with 33 rebounds as a team. Every player had at least one rebound.

“It was a really gutsy game,” Tandy said. “It was physical, and our girls held their composure and were really disciplined through that. We had to play hard today, and Madison-Grant plays hard, so I credit them for that. We hit [our] shots tonight, and definitely were able to rebound the ball. Everybody on our team rebounded well.”

The Indians have bounced back in a big way after their big loss to Oak Hill with two impressive victories this past week. With a two-week hiatus on the horizon, Tandy and the Indians are looking to keep the momentum going heading into the annual Grant Four tournament on December 29.

“I think our confidence is high,” Tandy said. “I tried to let the girls know that sometimes you have bad days and off days, and I think we did that against Oak Hill. But, we didn’t dwell on that. We know who we are, and I think our girls are really confident in who we are. We are looking forward to playing Madison-Grant again and then matching up with Oak Hill to see where we are.”

Morgan Conliff, Zoey Barnett, and Blayklee Stitt each finished with four points for the Argylls, while freshman Azmae Turner recorded four steals and three blocks.

It’s been a season of growing pains for the Madison-Grant Argylls. The wins have been hard to come by so far, but over the last several contests, Bradley has seen quite a few positives, both in his team’s play and their understanding of the systems he has put in place.

“We are all pleased but not necessarily satisfied with where we are, but we realize we still have a lot to work on,” Bradley said. “I feel like the first seven games were an adjustment period where the girls were getting used to me and this new system.  Over the past five games, I feel like they’ve started to play much more comfortably within the system, they’ve started to be more aggressive offensively, they’re rotating and communicating a lot better defensively, and I feel like the camaraderie is just better.”

Now, Bradley is looking for them to take the next step.

“The biggest thing for us now is to not make the same mistakes over and over again, fix them, and be better the next possession,” Bradley said. “We’ve become more adaptable of late, which is good, but now we need to recognize things a little quicker to improve quicker.”

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