Cold shooting fells Demons

Statistically, the Demons did most things right on Saturday night.

The Washington girls? basketball team took care of the ball, only committing 10 turnovers, and generated opportunities, by getting 25 more shot attempts than Ottumwa.

However, the shots simply wouldn?t fall in for the Demons, who fell to the Bulldogs 57-45.

It marked the third-straight loss for the Demons, who also fell to conference foe Fairfield 66-52 on Friday night.

?It?s about forgetting quick and focusing yourselves back in, but I tell them all the time that we are a better team than their record shows,? Washington head coach Jordan Bentley said. ?These kids can shoot the ball and can take care of the ball. The whole team needs to believe it.?

The Demons fell to 1-3 on the season (0-1 in conference play) with the pair of weekend losses.

In each game over the weekend, the Demons had a balanced scoring effort in the losses, with seven Demons finding the score sheet.

Three Demons reached double figures on Friday night against Fairfield, with sophomore Sarah Nacos leading the way with 12.

Morgan Kimball and Lexi Redlinger also hit double digits with 10 points each.

Against Ottumwa, Kimball was the only Demon to finish in double figures, as the senior scored a team-high 10 points.

One area that Bentley wants to see improved is increasing the rate at which Washington gets to the free-throw line, after only attempting 28 total free throws over the weekend.

?We got to the line, but they got to the line 35 times (on Saturday night),? Bentley said. ?We shot 12. We can control finishing shots and moving our feet and not fouling. It seems like every game we have a starter that has two fouls early and has to sit. You are starting for a reason. We want you on the floor.?

Against Fairfield, the Demons fell behind early in the first half, trailing 37-12 at the break. Coming out of halftime, the Demons turned it on, winning the third quarter 18-17, and dominating the fourth 22-12, but it wasn?t enough for Washington to sneak back in the game.

In the game against Ottumwa, the Demons again struggled early, falling behind 12-5 early, before hanging with the Bulldogs in the second quarter.

Trailing by a dozen at half, Washington wasn?t able to close the gap, and split the second half scoring with the Bulldogs to fall by 12.

Against Ottumwa, Washington shot 30 percent from the field, and shot a combined 35 percent for the weekend.

?We have to keep our heads up, but we struggled to shoot,? Bentley said. ?We had 25 more shots than they did, only turned the ball over 10 times, and you are thinking those are stats of a team that should win the game. We just have to be focused.?

The Demons will look to erase the weekend with a quick turnaround game against Sigourney at home on Monday night.

It will be Washington?s third game in four days, and tip-off is scheduled for 6:15 p.m.