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Molly Bowman scored 8 points in Reed City's win over Cadillac.
Pioneer Photo/Brendan Sanders
REED CITY—Defense was the name of the game on Tuesday night for Reed City girls basketball.
The Coyotes battled to a tight 31-27 win against Cadillac, advancing to 8-11 on the season. Using strong play by the defense, Reed City was able to hold Cadillac to 11 second half points to earn the victory.
"We're very similar in terms of offense. On defense we do a zone while they play a physical man defense," Coach Tim Beilfuss said. "Kip (Damgard) has done a good job with their identity. They're going to play man and we knew that, we've just got to take care of the ball better, we've got to box out. But at the end there. we made timely free throws and took care of the ball."
The first half stayed tight, with both offenses struggling from the outset. After the first quarter Reed City led 9-7, while at halftime the Coyotes held a slim 17-16 lead.
The offenses for both teams slowed to a crawl in the third quarter, with Reed City holding Cadillac to only three points while the Coyotes only scored six. They extended their lead to 23-19 heading into the fourth. From there, Reed City warmed up slightly on offense and hit crucial free throws to seal the victory.
"Third quarter was a struggle. Coaches went ahead and made some adjustments," Beilfuss said. "We knew that they want to get the ball in the low post and that's something that we've struggled with all year. So we'll go back and work on it and we'll drill it in, it's got to sink in, it's February."
Kyleigh Weck led the Coyotes in scoring with nine points, Christina Malackanich and Molly Bowman both scored eight points and Carly Carlson scored three points.
"We're getting a little bit more of a rotation, we have eight kids," Beilfuss said. "So either do your job or we can find someone who can do the job. So that's something that we talked about a little bit the other day. What will help is getting some fresh legs in the coming weeks."
Currently, Reed City sits in seventh place in the CSAA girls basketball standings. The Coyotes will face White Cloud (8-9, 4-5 in conference) at home on Friday at 6 p.m.
