CHERRYVALE — Playing under an interim coach, the Cherryvale Chargers girls rallied for a 42-31 win over the Humboldt Cubs on Friday night.
Cherryvale’s sidelines were helmed by Scott John, who’s also the boys head coach. Kelsey Overacker, the Chargers’ head coach, sat on the bench but served a self-imposed suspension for violating KSHSAA rules.
“It was a series of unfortunate events,” John said. “Hats off to our kids for dealing with that adversity and playing like they did. You never want these situations, but sometimes they arise. We made the most of it.”
John said he spent the week taking a crash course to acclimate to the Chargers’ girls. It was Humboldt who took an early lead in the first quarter and came out hot again in the second period.
“I attribute the slow start to my unfamiliarity with the girls,” John said. “I relied on the girls to tell me what they were seeing and what works. I only got to go to one practice this week. But we made some adjustments.”
Humboldt was limited to 10 second- half points.
“We just need to get a little bit tougher,” Humboldt head coach Aubrey Jones said. “We started to miss some shots and we just hung our heads. We’ve got to be able to move on.”
“They were in position with active hands and pressured the ball,” John said. “It really flustered Humboldt.”
LiliAnn Whittley led Cherryvale with 15 points as the Chargers’ top scorer, Kadynce Forman, was sidelined for much of the night with foul trouble.
Forman connected on a trey from the corner with 90 seconds left off an inbounds pass that essentially iced the contest.
“She’s a senior who’s logged a lot of minutes, so I trusted her to knock down that shot,” John said. “I knew she’d put the game away.”
Shelby Shaughnessy led Humboldt with 10 points.
“She’s without a doubt our leader,” Jones said. “She needs to be more confident with herself. Nobody can stop her.”
Cherryvale improved to 4-3 overall with the victory.
“Those girls play hard for Kelsey,” John said. “They wanted it for Kelsey. For them to play like they did in the second half, that’s hats off to Kelsey having them ready and the girls wanting to get it done for her.”
As for Humboldt, it dropped to 5-4.
Up next
Both teams will compete in the War on 54 tournament in Iola this week.
Cherryvale opens up against Anderson County on Tuesday.
Humboldt will face Yates Center. “There’s no rest for the wicked,” Jones said. “We’ve got to get turnovers under control. We’ve got to lock the ball down.”
