DERBY, KS - Visiting Maize forced the Derby girls basketball team into a poor shooting night Tuesday, leaving the hosts with little chance against the No. 1 team in 6A. The result was a 62-31 loss for the Lady Panthers.
The shots just were not falling for the Lady Panthers, who hit only about 20 percent of their shots on the night. It was just the opposite for the young ladies from Maize, who were effective all over the court, especially from behind the arc.
Derby could not stop the the Maize offense, and ultimately looked worn out by the end of the game. The bench needed to provide more for Derby as well, only contributing a handful of points.
“They’re a really good transition team,” said Derby sophomore Grace Mitchell, who led the team in scoring. “We need to pound the boards, we just weren’t getting enough boards.”
Maize did a lot of things well on the night, all over the stat sheet. The Eagles played physically and took the shots when they presented themselves. They ran the floor the whole night, and pretty much had the green light to shoot whenever the opening arose.
Derby looks to bounce back from this loss this Friday against the Hutchinson Salt Hawks.
“We’re trying to improve in our next practice.” Mitchell said. “We’re hoping to get back to the things we do well.”
Derby got overwhelmed on both sides of the ball. Maize forced most of the turnovers in the game and was able to grab a majority of the rebounds in the game.
Mitchell, who led the Panthers in most of the stats categories, spoke of what she needs to do to bounce back.
“I need to box out and get better boards.” said Mitchell. “If I have the shot, I need to knock it down.”
