Bulldogs celebrate a ‘team win’ on Senior Night

Strong offensive rebounding and a few timely shots allowed Orient-Macksburg girls basketball to capture and retain a lead against East Union Monday, Jan. 16 at home and keep it.

The Bulldogs secured their third win of the season and first at home, beating the visiting Eagles 52-43 on Senior Night in Orient.

“We were able to get everyone in the game and get some playing time for all of our seniors. They made a run toward the end of the game and got back in it a little bit, but it’s always good to get a win,” O-M head coach Dave Hartman said. “They never come easily. We’ve been in some games we haven’t come out on the right side of. Tonight we came out on the right side of it.”

Orient-Macksburg led 10-3 after the first quarter. Senior guard Christa Cass had couple of instrumental buckets in the second quarter, growing a 15-12 lead into what was a 25-14 halftime spread.

It was defense feeding into long-range shots that allowed O-M to grow its lead in the third quarter. Junior guard Kinsey Eslinger hit a long 2-pointer and freshman Kaydence Kirkland hit two 3-pointers from the top of the key, and the Bulldogs led by as many as 15 in that stanza.

“I thought we shot it too quickly a few times after that [lead]. I really hate to tell girls to not be aggressive and to not shoot. You get in that weird area where you want girls to attack but you want them to take the game a little bit [as it comes to them],” Hartman said. “Quite frankly we haven’t had a lot of those games in the last few years [where you’ve had a decent lead]. Sometimes you have to be in situations before you know how to deal with them. Fortunately we did hit some free throws down the stretch and got some big offensive rebounds. Our defense was pretty good all night, but we definitely controlled the glass.”

The Eagles were able to get stops on defense, which helped them make a small run in the fourth quarter. Senior guard Noelle McKnight scored 13 of her game-high 20 points in the fourth quarter.

Cass paced the Bulldogs with 12, Eslinger had 11 and Logann Carson had 10. No non-scoring statistics were available before press time, however Boswell came into the game ninth in Class 1A in offensive rebounds (65) and third in defensive rebounds (125).

Cass, Carson and Brandy Bracy are the three seniors the girls basketball team honored.

Orient-Macksburg (3-9, 2-6 in the Bluegrass Conference) was scheduled to play Tuesday at Diagonal and hosts Twin Cedars, Bussey Friday.

“It was a good team win,” Hartman said. “Everybody got to play and I’m happy for our seniors. I’m glad we could send them out with this win.”

Senior Night was observed earlier than the season’s final home game so that the boys competing at Nodaway Valley could be honored too. Those seniors include basketball players Tyson Ross and Jase Davidson and wrestler Colt Slocum.