BaldwinCity.com

LOUISBURG — The Baldwin Bulldogs girls flashed perhaps their best defensive of the season in defeating Iola, 57-43, in the third-place contest of the Bulldog-WIldcat Classic.

With the score tied 4-4 four minutes into the contest, Baldwin went on a 22-4 run during the next 10 minutes employing a pressure defense that forced 15 Iola turnovers during that span.

The Bulldogs have forced more than 30 turnovers in all four of their games this year. But what made the first half stand out against Iola was the Bulldogs success in not fouling with their full-court press and trapping half-court defense. Iola only went to the line twice in the half on seven Baldwin fouls.

“I felt all night we were a little impatient on offense,” BHS coach Bob Martin said of his team's play “We were trying to make things happen too fast. We were out of control offensively, but defensively we were very good the first half. That was as well as we've played defensively this year.”

The fouling returned the second half, and Iola earned 10 trips to the line on 12 Bulldog fouls.

“That’s an ongoing concern, and something we need to get better at, but we will,” Martin said.

Leading the way for the Bulldogs was senior guard Kyna Smith, who finished with a game-high 16 points.

Baldwin is now 3-1 on the season. Martin said he was pleased with what his team accomplished at the tournament. Its opening-round 60-58 defeat to Chanute was the essentially for the tournament’s title. Chanute cruised to an comfortable victory in Friday’s title match.

The Bulldogs will a test in their Frontier League opener Tuesday at Paola. Martin said the Panthers were a running athletic club who would match up well with Baldwin.

Baldwin 57, Iola 43

Baldwin 10 19 16 12 - 57

Iola 4 10 13 16 - 43

Baldwin scoring: Abby Ogle 5, Taylor Cawley 5, Megann Lawrenz 9, Kyna Smith 16, Madeline Neufeld 8, Lily Fursman 10, Riley O’Rourke 2, Kayla Kurtz 2

Iola scoring: Sydney Wadel 14, Colbi Riley 2, Riley Murry 2, Ashlie Shields 7, Della Lohman 2, Mikaela Platt 12, Toni Macha 6

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