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Strong second quarter helps Demons past Bloodhounds
Washington girls basketball knocks off Ft. Madison, wins sixth SEC game
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The Washington girls basketball team celebrated senior night with an important victory over Ft. Madison in Southeast Conference play. The Demons prevailed 49-37 to complete a season sweep of the Bloodhounds.
Washington captured the lead after a slow start to the first quarter and didn’t look back. The Demons ended the period on an 8-0 run after starting down 10-8. They turned the screws in the second quarter, surrendering just two points to take a 12-point lead into halftime.
“The defensive intensity was there for all eight minutes (of the first quarter), which was huge,” Washington coach Colin Mulford said. “Even though they scored 10 points, you could just tell that it carried over to that second quarter.”
Adalyn Long led the way for Washington with 14 points. The senior added five rebounds, two assists, two steals and shot 5 of 7 from the free throw line.
The Demons had a strong day at the charity stripe, going 15 of 19 as a team. Fellow seniors Leighton Messinger and Addison Miller were perfect 6 of 6 from the line.
The pair also combined for 14 of Washington’s 27 rebounds. Messinger finished with nine points and Miller scored eight.
Ft. Madison trimmed Washington’s lead to five points with three minutes left in the third. The run was generated by Dayonna Davis, who scored the first 10 points for Bloodhounds out of halftime and finished with 17.
Long answered the run with a deep 3-pointer to put Washington back up by eight. Davis scored just one more point in the final three minutes of the third.
“We did a good job of switching and hard hedging and — especially after that third quarter — of just making sure that we didn’t give her that right hand super easy,” Mulford said. “That’s the hand she wants to get to, and she’s very athletic, so I thought we did a really good job.”
The Demons got contributions from across their lineup, which helped fill the void of second-leading scorer Reagan Miller, who missed Friday’s game with an illness.
Seven of the eight Washington players who saw the floor scored. The Demons only shot 4 of 17 from 3, but attacked driving lanes to generate points at the rim.
“I think we did a great job driving tonight,” Addison Miller said. “That’s not usually what we go for, we’re usually a shooting team. So it was good to have that shift in the offense.”
Ashlynn Long had a strong game off the bench with six points, three rebounds, two assists, one steal and a block. Oaklee Sobaski, Vivienne Kroll and Sarah Berdo each scored four points.
Sobaski added a steal and two blocks, contributing to a strong Demons interior defense that made life difficult for Ft. Madison in the paint. Washington blocked four shots and tallied seven steals as a team.
Washington improved to 6-3 in SEC play with the win, which leaves them tied with Ft. Madison for second place. The Demons can finish in sole possession of second with a win over Burlington on Tuesday and a loss by Ft. Madison, which faces first-place Keokuk on Thursday.
“I know the past couple of years we’ve been falling short (against) Ft. Madison,” Miller said. “So it felt really good to finally sweep them this year.”
After their final two regular season games, the Demons will start postseason play against an SEC foe. They face Fairfield on Saturday in the first round of the Class 3A Region 5 playoffs. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. at Washington High School and will be streamed on the Southeast Iowa Live YouTube and Facebook pages.
