RBS blows out Lady Broncos

If the nearly two-hour drive to Red Boiling Springs felt like a tough time for the Lady Broncos, it was forgotten once the game started. The Lady Bulldogs laid a beatdown on Boyd, winning 60-32 in dominant fashion in a rematch of a close battle in the Monterey Thanksgiving Classic.

Freshman Channing Gannon was a spark by hitting three triples on her way to a team-high nine points and fellow freshmen Kendall Kesling (seven points, two steals) and Madi Noll (five points, nine rebounds) had stellar nights, but Boyd never could gain any offensive traction as it fell to 7-6 overall this season.

“I just didn’t have them prepared enough for a tough road environment and a slow start snowballed,” said Jeff Simmons, who stepped in as head coach with Tim Page unavailable. “Red Boiling Springs had a really good plan to slow our offense down and I was too slow making adjustments to help us get back in the game.”

Red Boiling Springs jumped out to a 10-1 lead in the first, suffocating Boyd’s offense and using the long ball to build an advantage that would swell the rest of the night.

The Lady Broncos made a brief push at the start of the second quarter, cutting the deficit down to 15-11 on a layup from Noll and a triple from Gannon before Red Boiling Springs turned up the pressure and put the game away.

“What I liked about the start of the second quarter was we showed we could adapt and take what we drew up in the huddle and apply it to the court. We ran one play that we’ve never ran before for a bucket, then got an open look off an inbounds play to claw back,” said Simmons. “Those are growth moments moving forward. There will be times in conference games or in the postseason where we’ll need to listen, comprehend and apply what is said in the huddle. The girls did a good job of that coming out for the second quarter.”

Red Boiling Springs’ red-hot shooting proved to be too much to overcome.

Rylee Bray finished with 19 points and 10 rebounds for the Lady Bulldogs, Zoe McDuffee added 16 points and Ali Bates had 11 as the home team with an effective field-goal percentage of 56 percent while hitting seven triples and 13-of-18 from the line.

“Bottom line: They were getting the shots they wanted with their gameplan and took away all the shots we wanted in our gameplan. They coached a great game, I didn’t,” said Simmons.

Boyd will be back in action Thursday night at home against St. Andrew’s Sewanee. Tip-off is set for 6 p.m.

Lady Bronco scoring – Gannon 9, Kesling 7, Brooke Kesey 7, Noll 5, Allee Willmore 2, Katie Bechtel 2

Boyd boys fall on the road

The Broncos were unable to avenge a Thanksgiving weekend loss to Red Boiling Springs on the road Monday, falling 60-47 to drop to 1-12 this season.