Nacos carries Demons to victory

OSKALOOSA - All season long Washington head coach Shannon Rugg has extolled the virtues of the hard work and effort the Demons girls basketball team puts in to every practice.

Wednesday in the first round of the postseason it paid off when Makenna Conrad nailed a 3-pointer with six seconds left to defeat the Indians 38-37.

Alex Murphy found Conrad on the backside for the wide open shot. With the remaining time Oskaloosa was able to put up a 3-pointer that was short. A mad scramble for the rebound ensued and time ran out.

'What a great game,” Rugg said. 'I am so proud of the girls for the effort that they gave.”

Oskaloosa (7-15) had defeated the Demons 51-31 on the same court earlier this season.

'To go back and win was amazing,” Rugg said. 'Anna Nacos played outstanding for us.”

Nacos had a good start which gave the Demons confidence. Nacos scored 14 points in the first half, finished with 18 and three steals.

'I thought she really controlled the game,” Rugg said.

In the second half, Murphy took over. 'She really took it to the three big girls that they rotated on her,” Rugg said. Murphy put up 13 points and took down 6 rebounds. Kaylin Long and Josie Tanner had five boards apiece.

A key for the Demons defense was their ability to defend the Indians on drives, forcing outside shots. While the home team made nine 3-pointers, it took 42 shots to do it, a percentage of 21.

Washington was 11-of-21 on its free throws while Oskaloosa was 2-for-2.

'Everybody played a huge role for us,” Rugg said. 'Three juniors, Ava Turner, Greta Rothe and Elyse Hunt, were tremendous and the girls on the bench that didn't play brought a lot of energy for us.”

Rugg has consistently said that good things happen to people that put their head down and work hard. A lot of hard work went into the season and 'good things happened for a bunch of girls that have bought into that,”

Washington (3-18) advances to play at Central DeWitt (14-2) Saturday.