Eureka outpaces Lady Bobcats
Superior sophomore Maggie Haworth (23) inbounds the ball over a Seeley player and into the hands of teammate Braelynn Mangold (24) during their game Saturday night in Superior. (Chuck Bandel/MI-VP)
Two tough opponents, who like Superior have been struggling at times this season, were the obstacles in the path of the Lady Bobcats this past week, and both proved to be formidable blocks for the Cats to overcome.
Friday the Lady Bobcats were in Eureka to take on the 7B conference second place team, which defeated the Lady Cats 61-30 to remain one game behind conference leader Mission in the race for the top spot in the league.
Saturday the Superior girls returned to their home court where they faced Seeley-Swan and fell to the Blackhawks by a 57-40 count.
Friday in Eureka, the Lady Lions came out strong, roaring off to a 17-8 advantage after one quarter of play. They upped that lead to 32-20 at the half.
Superior fought back in the second half but Eureka proved to be too much as the Lions outscored the Cats 29-10 over the final two quarters to secure the win, which kept them unbeaten (4-0) in league play.
Eureka’s Dylan Sharp scored a game-leading 20 points to pace the balanced Eureka offensive attack.
The Lady Bobcats, who like the Superior boys are loaded with young talent, were led by freshman Josie Crabb’s 16 points. Junior forward Braelynn Mangold chipped in eight points for Superior.
Saturday, before a nearly full house of fans, the Lady Cats squared off against the Blackhawks girls, who clawed their way to a 13-11 lead over the home team after the first quarter of play.
Seeley stretched their lead to 25-17 at the half as the two teams traded baskets and missed shots throughout the first two quarters.
The third quarter saw the Blackhawks turn up their defensive pressure while outscoring Superior 18-8 on their way to a 43-25 lead heading into the fourth quarter.
Superior kept fighting but could trim only one point off the Seeley lead in the final quarter as the Blackhawks locked up the non-conference encounter.
Mangold led the Lady Bobcats in scoring with 17 points, while teammate Crabb pitched in 12 for the home girls.
Seeley got a game-best 18 points from Lillian Boyd in their win.
Next on the menu for Superior is a Friday evening game in Plains against the Trotters. They then travel to Troy for a Saturday night meeting with the Lady Trojans.