WEBB CITY, Mo. — Webb City’s girls basketball team jumped out to a 16-0 lead and never looked back en route to a 61-29 win over Springfield Central Wednesday at the Cardinal Dome.
With the win, Webb City (12-4) has won its last five games and six of its last seven.
Brecklynn Sargent got the ball rolling for the Cardinals after taking the opening tip to the rim for a score. That sparked a 16-0 run that included an Abby Sargent and-one, an Addy Burns put-back, a Kenzie Horn trey, another score each by Brecklynn Sargent and Burns, and an Adalyn Maxwell score in the paint.
Five different Cardinals earned a spot in the scoring column within the first three minutes of the first quarter.
Central’s Annalise Freeman got the Bulldogs on the board at the 5:07 mark with a jumper.
Webb City responded by putting together a 12-0 run that was sparked by another Adalynn Maxwell bucket and capped off by a Kylee Sargent score that gave the Cardinals a 28-2 lead with 1:02 left in the opening period.
Central’s Amanda Fajardo sank a pair of free throws, but Burns answered with a bucket with to give the Cardinals a 30-4 lead heading into the second quarter.
Webb City used a pressure defense that netted eight steals in the first quarter.
“That’s something we try to hang our hat on at the end of the day, can we create offense off of our defense?” Cardinals head coach Grant Berendt said. “Early on, it showed. We mixed up a lot of our defenses tonight and I thought our pressure was pretty good.”
Central’s Samantha Githieya hit a trey to open the second frame but Webb City was able to get the lead back to 26 points at 35-9 off a Burns trey with 5:35 left in the half.
The lead swelled to 39-11 off an Adalyn Maxwell score and later to 42-13, courtesy of another Horn trey at the 3:06 mark.
The Cardinals closed out the half with back-to-back buckets by Abby Sargent and Burns to take a 46-13 lead into the break.
Webb City continued its dominance in the third quarter and took a 34-point 55-21 lead into the final frame.
The Bulldogs (2-11) never got closer than 30 points the remainder of the game as Webb City reserves took the court with a running clock for the entirety of the final quarter.
“Not everyone played their normal minutes,” Berendt said. “But it gave us an opportunity to play some other kids and get some different looks and save some legs against Glendale as we play back-to-back nights. The Cardinals traveled to Glendale (10-6) Thursday. Results of that game were not available at deadline.
The Cardinals claimed the win with a balanced attack. Burns finished with a double-double (13 points and 11 rebounds). Maxwell added 13 points and eight rebounds. Brecklynn Sargent was 6-for-10 for 12 points, doled out five assists and logged four steals. Abby Sargent was 5-for-7 for 11 points.
