FLATONIA — The Flatonia High School girl’s basketball team defeated La Grange High School Nov. 26 at Bulldogs Gym by a final score of 67-45. La Grange had a solid game offensively, but Flatonia had just a little more offense, which eventually wore down the Lady Leopards for a 20+ point victory. “Honestly, a lot of teamwork,” said Flatonia head girl’s basketball coach Bethany McLeod. “We’ve been preaching a lot about passing the ball. We had a lot of assists today. Everybody scored. La Grange is really good defensively. It’s good that we get to play against that. That was really exciting.”
Lady Bulldogs junior guard Summer Sodek scored her 1,500th career point and had a big game scoring the ball in a variety of ways. “I’m looking forward to continuing to just play with my friends, have fun, and go as far as we can,” Sodek said. La Grange played an exceptional game and will be one of the better teams in the area throughout the season. “They’re a solid ball club,” said La Grange head girl’s basketball coach Heath Golan. “I think they gave us some trouble with their length and the ability to handle pressure. I would have liked to see us play a little bit better transition defense. I thought we gave up some easy scores just because we didn’t communicate. We’ll make those adjustments and we’ll get better.”
Flatonia started the game on a 7-0 run after a layup from sophomore Abbie Uzzell, then eventually took a 16-7 lead until La Grange answered with a three pointer from junior guard Kylie Trlicek to make it 16-10. A fast break layup from Sodek at the 1:18 mark and another drive and layup from Sodek helped propel Flatonia to a 22-12 lead at the end of the first quarter.
La Grange held tough in the second quarter and cut the lead to five at 26-21 on a three in the corner from sophomore shooting guard Campbell Cooper, which led to two baskets in a row from the Lady Bulldogs for a 32-23 advantage at halftime. Flatonia extended their lead to 13 in the third quarter after a few layups to put it at 38-25 before La Grange answered back once again with two baskets in a row from Cooper on a drive and a three pointer. Flatonia gained their lead right back on a three pointer at the top of the key from Sodek with 2:45 to go, then another three, a free throw, and another basket from the Lady Bulldogs gave them a 57-41 advantage at the end of the third quarter .
A put back layup from Flatonia sophomore center Katelin Sullivan with 6:20 to play in the fourth quarter gave Flatonia a 20-point advantage at 61-41 as they cruised to more offense throughout the quarter en route to a 67-45 win.
