Ten games into the 2023-2024 season, the Blair girls basketball team is 6-4.
The Class B No. 10 Bears' wins have all come by double digits against teams with losing records. Their losses, however, have all come by at least 21 points to teams with winning records.
The No. 7 Bennington Badgers (8-3 overall) hosted and beat coach Matt Aschoff's team Saturday, 44-23, but senior Joslyn Policky and her teammates aren't panicking.
“Individually, everyone has great talent. Everyone's really good. We push each other in practice,” she said. “We just need to figure out how to bring it altogether on the court.”
Despite playing without injured starter Addie Sullivan, the Bears took a 5-0 lead on Bennington's home floor on a Policky 3-pointer and a coast-to-coast layup by Leah Chance. From there, though, the Badgers went on a 20-2 run, securing a 20-7 overall lead during the second quarter.
“Turnovers definitely hurt us today,” Policky said. “That was a big part of it.”
BHS struggled at times against full-court Bennington pressure, but also threw off-target passes in its halfcourt offense.
“We're a young team, so we need to learn to slow down, take care of the ball and use our teammates to help us,” Policky explained.
Bears freshman Gueryn Kay ultimately broke up the Badgers' scoring run with a 3-pointer, but her team couldn't cut its deficit to any less than 10 points for the rest of the game. Marin Sather knocked down a third-period 3-pointer and Claire Anderson scored five fourth-quarter points, but Aschoff's team still lost decisively on the road against an Eastern Midlands Conference opponent.
“We're dealing with injury adversity, and we're just trying out how to figure out how to play as a team,” Policky said.
Blair next competes 6 p.m. today at Wahoo.
BHS GIRLS HOOPS LINE SCORE
Saturday
No. 7 Bennington 44, No. 10 Blair 23
BHS (6-4) 6 6 6 5 — 23
BEN (8-3) 12 19 8 5 — 44
Scoring: BHS — Claire Anderson 5, Leah Chance 5, Joslyn Policky 4, Marin Sather 3, Gueryn Kay 3, Laynie Brown 2, Kaitlyn O'Neil 1.
BEN — Presley Baca 13, Skylar Johnson 11, Harper Bohaboj 6, Addison Reinoehl 6, Regan Bluhm 4, Haydin Jackson 3, Lauren Carlsen 1.
