Applegate’s game-high 19 leads Lady Tigers to season-opening victory over El Do

Lakyn Applegate poured in 19 points as the Nevada Lady Tigers seventh-grade basketball team rolled to a 43-23 season-opening victory over El Dorado Springs Thursday night.

Nevada led 8-0 at the conclusion of the opening frame, and held a 16-11 halftime advantage. The Lady Tigers led 26-17 after three quarters of play, and then pulled away in the fourth — outscoring the hosts 17-6 to account for the final 20-point margin.

“I thought we played pretty well for it being our season-opener,” said Nevada head coach Danny Penn. “We had a few girls out with the flu and had to make some adjustments, but the girls did a nice job of doing that in a short manner of time. The first game of the year always starts with a lot of questions, and I thought we answered some of those tonight.”

In addition to guard Applegate’s game-high tally — Katie Johnson chipped in seven points, and Clara Swearingen, six.

“We had a lot of girls do a nice job for us tonight,” began Penn. “I was proud of how hard Lakyn played on the defensive end — getting a lot of rebounds, even though she was outsized. Offensively, she did a great job of finding holes in their zone attacking the basket. Clara and Katie did a good job of controlling our offense, and were aggressive on the defensive end. When Clara and Kara (Phillips) got themselves into some first half foul trouble, I thought girls like Lindey Wilson, Reese Hedges, and Lanie Jackson did a nice job filling in. Katie was all over the glass tonight, as was Anna Ashby.”

Up next

Nevada (1-0) returns to the hardwood Monday evening for a match-up with Butler. Tip-off is set for 5:30 p.m. at Nevada Middle School.