Dover – There was a lot of positives to take away for the Western Boone girls basketball team on Tuesday night against Fountain Central.
The Stars got a much needed 59-39 win over the Mustangs, after dropping six of their eight games in December. But more importantly, they are getting healthier at the right time of the year.
“Fountain Central has struggled this year and have had some injuries, which we certainly understand, but it feels so nice to get this win,” Western Boone head coach Megan Alexander said. “We got a lot of kids a lot of minutes, and we couldn’t have asked for a better game to allow Lauryn (Florey) to get back in the rotation a little bit. It was a good win for us.”
Florey, who averaged 9.1 points and 6.1 rebounds last year, saw her first game action of the year and scored seven points and grabbed four rebounds.
She suffered a knee injury in August in a soccer game and had surgery in September, but worked her way back for the stretch run.
“It is a truly remarkable feat for her to overcome all this,” Alexander said. “When she went down in August, I didn’t think there was a prayer of her coming back. She has worked tirelessly to get back. She has done her rehab, did her due diligence to get back on the floor with her team and having her back is pivotal for our team. We have a month now to see what we can become.”
Florey isn’t the only player that will be giving the Stars a boost in the stretch run.
Leading scorer Kara Brewer has missed a month with an ankle injury but is back in practice and is close to returning.
Alexander said having the two seniors back with be a boost in the final month.
“Their decision making is going to be important,” Alexander said. “Lauryn right now is a step slow, but her length makes up for it. She is smart and understands basketball. Having her back in any capacity is uplifting. And Kara is the same way. This is a team that pulls for each other and it is a motivational spark for the girls.”
The Stars controlled the game from start to finish on Tuesday.
Western Boone scored the first six points of the game and led by nine at the end of a quarter.
The Stars led by as many as 15 in the second quarter before entering the half with a 29-19 lead.
Tori Wilkinson and Hillary Reed combined for 19 points in the first half and finished with 20 and 17 respectively.
Alexander said the tandem has done a good job of handling a lot of the leadership with some of the injuries.
“When Lauryn got back in practice, you can see the enthusiasm in Tori and she was getting excited. Hillary has been strong for us in Kara’s absence and taken on a bigger role. Addy Bascom too. She didn’t have as big of a game tonight, but she has been big for us in last few games. All these girls have so much to contribute.”
Fountain Central got as close as nine late in the third quarter, but a 12-0 run for the Stars spanning the third and fourth quarters ended any chance of a comeback.
Dakota Borman had 17 points to lead the Mustangs, who dropped to 3-11 on the year.
Alexander said that there were some things that the Stars have to improve on in the win.
While the Mustangs turned it over 24 times, they scored six more points than their season average and shot 52 percent in the final three quarters.
“I wasn’t happy with our defense at all tonight,” Alexander said. “They are struggling this year and we gave up far too many buckets. We were getting beat off the dribble. We were rushing them into some bad decisions, which was great, but we didn’t get a lot off of those.”
