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Binkley scores 13, Dunlap adds 11 on senior night
BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS
Sports Editor, RTC
ARGOS — The LaVille girls basketball team excels at pointing out their opponents’ flaws on offense.
They did that for the second time in as many weeks at Phil Weybright Gymnasium Thursday. Last week, it was in the Bi-County semifinals. This time, it was senior night at Argos.
Heaylyn Kwiatkowski scored seven of her game-high 14 points in the fourth quarter, and the Lady Lancer defense held Argos scoreless over the final 3:58 to win this matchup 38-33.
Brooke Edison added nine points.
Argos’ four senior players – Baleigh Binkley, Emma Dunlap, Bella Stults and Kayla Moore – all started and combined for 30 points. Binkley took Edison frequently off the bounce for a team-high 13 from her point guard spot, and Dunlap added 11.
But Dunlap’s driving layup in transition with 3:58 left that cut what had been an eight-point deficit to 36-33 was the final field goal for either team.
Kwiatkowski completed the scoring with 30.9 seconds left with two free throws.
Each team had 22 turnovers.
“They’re a well-coached team, and they get after it defensively for sure,” Argos coach Scott Jennings said. “We just didn’t execute offensively again. We rushed things. Offensively for them, they just move the ball better than we do. They get what they want out of it, and we just aren’t patient enough sometimes to move the ball enough and get what we want. A couple bad turnovers there down the stretch … we were getting in each other’s way a little bit and weren’t executing very well.”
LaVille improved to 16-6 going into their regular season finale at Culver on Saturday. Argos fell to 10-11 as they prepare for Saturday’s regular season finale at Northwestern and Wednesday’s Class 1A, Sectional 50 quarterfinal against host Culver.
LaVille came in 12th in the state allowing just 31.8 points per game. They beat Argos 49-41 in a Bi-County semifinal at LaVille on Jan. 19.
Post player Lucy Sherk scored 17 points for LaVille in the Bi-County game, but Argos held to her five points in the rematch. But Argos’ Samantha Redinger scored just one point Thursday after scoring 15 in the Bi-County game.
Argos played a man-to-man defense for the first three quarters but switched to a 1-3-1 zone in the fourth.
“We got several stops out of it, so we just stayed in it,” Jennings said. “I kinda looked for them to hold the ball on us a little bit. They were up on us, but they kept attacking, and we stayed in the 1-3-1 and got some touches on it and got the ball back and didn’t take advantage of it on the other end.”
Binkley had a driving layup and a drive for a 3-point play in the first quarter as Argos built a 10-7 lead. LaVille started the second quarter with A 7-0 run to take a 14-10 lead before a Stults bucket in the post with 3:53 left in the half ended the run.
LaVille led 17-12 before Argos closed the half on a 6-0 run with Binkley finishing in transition with six seconds left off a Dunlap assist to give Argos an 18-17 lead
“If anybody moved the ball pretty well for us, it was Baleigh,” Jennings said. “Attacking the basket, I thought she did a heck of a job. And she deserves that for senior night. She’s been our mainstay. She’s taken ownership of this team, and we’ve just got to get the rest of them to execute a little bit better for her.”
Mikalah Kuskye’s 3-pointer in the first minute of the third quarter put LaVille ahead for good at 20-18. A Brooke Edison steal and layup and a Sherk free throw made it 23-18.
Binkley had six points in the third quarter as Argos stayed within 31-26.
Morgyn Barcus hit a 17-footer in the opening minute of the fourth quarter, but Kwiatkowski’s 3-point play in transition after an Argos turnover and a 15-foot jumper gave LaVille their biggest lead at 36-28.
LaVille 38, Argos 33
LAVILLE (38) (16-6)
Lily Smith 0 0-0 0, Heaylyn Kwiatkowski 5 3-3 14, Mikalah Kuskye 2 0-1 6, Lauren Edison 0 0-0 0, Lucy Sherk 1 3-8 5, Brooke Edison 4 0-0 9, London Kwiatkowski 1 0-0 2, Quincy Blodgett 1 0-0 2
TEAM: 14 6-12 38
ARGOS (33) (10-11)
Samantha Redinger 0 1-2 1, Baleigh Binkley 5 3-5 13, Emma Dunlap 5 0-0 11, Kayla Moore 0 0-0 0, Bella Stults 3 0-0 6, Morgyn Barcus 1 0-0 2, Ellie Bollenbacher 0 0-0 0
TEAM: 14 4-7 33
Three-point field goals:
LaVille 4 (Kuskye 2, H. Kwiatkowski, B. Edison),
Argos 1 (Dunlap)
Total fouls: LaVille 10, Argos 12
Fouled out: Bollenbacher (ARG), :36.0, fourth
Turnovers: LaVille 22, Argos 22
Score by quarters
LaVille 7 10 14 7 – 38
Argos 10 8 8 7 – 33
