ALTAMONT — A sluggish start from Chanute and a red-hot night from Labette County was the story of the night as the Labette County Grizzlies girls beat the Chanute Blue Comets, 61-30, on Friday night.
“Every team is going to give us a run for our money, but we played better basketball,” Labette County head coach Brianna Volmer said. “We still need to focus on some little things. But we played better tonight. We have to keep getting better.”
Labette County led 14-4 at the end of the first period before the Blue Comets eventually trimmed the deficit to four points.
“The start wasn’t great and we dug ourselves a hole,” Chanute head coach Dustin Fox said. “But we settled in and competed the rest of the way. We had opportunities to make the game really close. We just have to knock down open shots and free throws when we get them. When you don’t do that, good teams will make you pay.”
Landry O’Brien, who’s struggled with efficiency in recent games, led the Grizzlies with 23 points on 9-of-17 shooting to go along with five assists and a pair of steals.
“She stopped overthinking and let the game come to her,” Volmer said. “She’s letting opportunities come. They made adjustments on how they guarded her and didn’t get frustrated. She can’t let people take her out of what she likes to do.”
Sarah Uhner led Chanute with 11 points.
The Blue Comets showed real signs of promise in their last two games — Chanute was tied with state-ranked Fort Scott at halftime and played a competitive half against the stateranked Grizzlies.
“We’re seeing evolution and figuring out what we’re capable of doing,” Fox said. “Now we have to do it consistently. We’re having too many lulls, but the kids are working and improving and have gotten better. We’ve got to stay focused through the process.”
Labette County improved to 15-2 overall while Chanute dropped to 2-14.
Up next
Chanute hosted Pittsburg on Monday.
As for Labette County, its next scheduled opponent is Fort Scott — the winner will take sole possession of first place in the SEK League.
“We want to do what we do but just shoot better,” Volmer said. “When you shoot 28% from the floor, you won’t win a ton of games. We have to get stops on defense. We have to win tough games and this will be a tough game for us to win.
