The Washington Demon girls basketball team got a win on Saturday over Oskaloosa.
Washington had been off for a week and a day, and it showed in their discipline. In the first half, the Demons picked up 14 team fouls to give the Indians the double bonus with seven minutes to go in the second quarter. Washington was up by eight after the first quarter, but with the foul trouble and four players out of the half with two fouls, Oskaloosa found their way back into the game down two.
In the tail end of the second quarter Washington started to find their groove again and sunk some shots while playing stout defense. The Demons led 36-20 at the halftime break.
The Demons of old came out in the second half, scoring 25 more of their own and only allowing eight points the entire half. Head coach Phil Long talked after the game about the difference of the two halves.
“Obviously we had a little bit of a group discussion at half time, fouling people 94 feet away for no reason when you have a seven, eight, 10 point lead. Half of their points from the first half were from the free throw line, they had 10 from the field and 10 from the line, and that is just ridiculous,” Long said. “We talked about score and clock at the halftime, and then we come back out in the second half and don’t even let them get into the bonus. I don’t know if we were so excited to try and make a difference that they jumped over the back of people and didn’t play with any defensive finesse, but once they sit, they don’t like that, so then they make some nice physical adjustments, if you will, to keep themselves in the game.”
The Demons were led by Grace Redlinger with 18 points on the night, while Stephanie Fishback had 14. Washington got 16 points from their bench, including eight combined from Brynna DeLong and Addie Pacha.
Washington will travel East tomorrow night for a game against ranked 5A opponent Muscatine.