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Burlington beats Washington
Demon girls basketball falls below Grayhounds to third in SEC standings
Southeast Iowa Union offers audio versions of articles using Instaread. Some words may be mispronounced.
Washington girls basketball came up just short of a win that would have elevated the Demons to second place in the Southeast Conference. Washington fell behind by double digits in the second quarter against Burlington on Friday and didn’t have enough in the tank in the second half of a 55-47 loss.
The Demons (6-4, 3-2 SEC) played from behind after going down 11-3 in the first quarter. They had a chance to make it a two-possession game after grabbing a defensive rebound down by seven with 15 seconds left in the first half.
Burlington’s Mylee Stiefel had other plans. She jumped a pass in the backcourt and cashed in a layup to extend the Grayhounds’ lead to nine at the break.
Burlington outscored Washington 17-11 in the third as the Demons struggled to string together multiple stops to cut into the deficit. Washington trimmed the lead to seven with under a minute to play, but ran out of time to complete a comeback.
“We started down 3-11 and we lose 47-55,” Washington coach Colin Mulford said. “So that can be that difference. So it’s just making sure we’re game ready and just getting into that flow right away.”
After a slow start, Washington finished the game with 32 rebounds and tallied seven steals on defense. The Demons held Stiefel, Burlington’s leading scorer entering Friday, to just four points in the second half after she scored 14 in the first.
The Grayhounds countered in the paint through Daphne Brown, who matched Stiefel with 18 points, including eight in the second quarter. Burlington also got a boost from Vanessa Woodsmall and Sela Rascon, who combined for 16 points.
“Our girls didn’t ever give up. They had a lot of fight in them. Mulford said. “I felt like what we could have improved on was just those straight line drives from their role players. That we have to be able to contain especially when we’re so worried about No. 10 Mylee Stiefel.”
Despite Stiefel and Brown’s strong nights, it was Washington’s Adalyn Long who led all scorers with 24 points. The senior was a force all game on offense and added five rebounds two assists and two steals.
Reserve forward Sarah Berdo and junior Vivienne Kroll also boosted Washington’s comeback effort. Kroll only scored three points but matched Long with five boards and had two steals. Berdo joined Long in double figures with 11 of Washington’s 14 bench points and grabbed a team-high seven rebounds.
“Vivi and Sarah, they were rock stars tonight with the boards and being physical,“ Mulford said. “I thought they both played extremely well.”
Washington will test itself in a nonconference matchup against West Liberty on Monday before returning to SEC play against Keokuk on Thursday. The Chiefs (7-3, 4-0) remain in first place and defeated Washington 49-41 on Dec. 5.
“I hope we come out with some fire like we should because we’re going to need it,” Mulford said. “We can’t get down early because it’s going to be a dogfight how it was tonight for 32 minutes with it being at the top of the conference.”
Washington’s game against West Liberty tipped off after press time.
