EARL WATT
• Leader & Times
The Lady Redskins used crushing defense and a strong performance in the lane from Maliyah Mullens to dominate Wichita North 62-18 in The Big House Friday.
The win was a needed rebound from a 66-34 road loss to Hays Dec. 9.
Wichita North was held to their lowest score of the season while the Lady Redskins defense forced turnovers and dominated the rebounds.
The Lady Redskins used a full court press to force turnovers, but in the first quarter they struggled to get back when the Lady Red Hawks broke the press, and after the first quarter the Lady Redskins only had a 12-9 lead.
But the Lady Redskins picked up the pace in the second quarter and was able to push the ball under the basket to Maliyah Mullens who added nine points in the period to her five from the first quarter to have 13 at half, and the Lady Redskins started to pull away.
The Lady Red defense limited the shot opportunities for the Lady Red Hawks, and North only managed three points in the second quarter. The Lady Redskins took a 34-12 lead at the break.
Mullens continued to dominate in the paint in the second half and added seven more points for her game high 20.
By the end of the third quarter the Lady Saints led 52-18.
With the clock running the entire fourth quarter, Liberal coach Brandi Fowler began to rest her starters and played reserves most of the period.
But the defense never let up, and the Lady Redskins didn’t allow a point in the fourth quarter.
Aaliyah Cedena, Yazlene Martinez and Viviana Favila came off the bench to score in the final quarter to help secure the 62-18 win.
In addition to 20 points for Mullens, Kylie Rhine scored 11, and Shamari Lewis had nine.
“We are not where we want to be yet,” Fowler said. “We are trending in the right direction, that’s for sure. Hays was a setback, but only if we don’t learn from it. We’ve already been able to apply some things we didn’t do well in that game into tonight’s game. We played three really good quarters. I thought we shared the ball really well. The girls were selfless. We turned defense into offense, and we got after the glass.”
Liberal had a new mix on the floor with several underclassmen.
“Our sophomore class is our biggest class,” Fowler said. “We have lots of girls to choose from in there. they really get after it. They have played a lot of basketball together. Some of the girls were the original players when Liberal started the LBA. It’s cool to see them at the high school level. They will just get better and better.”
But Mullens was the standout for the Lady Redskins.
“We did a good job of getting the ball to the girl with the best shot,” Fowler said. “Maliyah happened to be open, and they found her.”
