Washington girls fall to Keokuk

KEOKUK - The Washington girls basketball team suffered a road Southeast Conference loss Monday to the Keokuk Chiefs, 43-30.

'We played a really good game against a really good team,” Washington head coach Shannon Rugg said. 'They got us playing the tempo that they wanted to play in the first half of the game.”

Tempo was important on a night when the Demons were down a couple of players.

'I thought our effort was extremely good since we had a very short bench,” Rugg said. 'We played without Kellie Dallmeyer due to injury and Maddison Fishback was gone with a prior commitment.”

The two teams were tied at 9-9 after the first quarter but a 13-3 second quarter gave the Chiefs a 22-12 halftime lead.

Washington rallied with a 13-7 advantage in the third quarter to get within 27-25 starting the final stanza.

'I'm extremely proud of how the girls competed all night,” Rugg said. 'It was a six-point game with 2 minutes to go. They did a better job of finishing off the game than we did.”

Keokuk went on a 14-5 run in fourth quarter.

'Anna Nacos played another good game for us at point,” Rugg said. 'She lead us in scoring with 17 points, did a good job of attacking the basket all night, and she was 7-of-8 from the free throw line.”

Olivia Pacha led Washington in rebounding with nine and Kinsey Duwa had eight rebounds.

'Josie Tanner played a very good game, giving us valuable minutes with Halle Leyden being in foul trouble,” Rugg said. 'Emma Herr did a very good job of filling in for Addison Six, who got in foul trouble in the third quarter.”

Washington's record is now 7-5 overall, 2-3 SEC while Keokuk is 10-3, 5-0. The Demons host Mt. Pleasant Friday. Washington lost at Mt. Pleasant 36-32 Dec. 20.

'We will learn from this and be better at the end of games going forward,” Rugg said. 'This group of girls has really come a long way this year and will keep getting better moving forward.”