BANGS – With only one starter and a total of three members back from last year’s playoff team, as well as eight players recently coming aboard following the conclusion of volleyball season, Bangs Lady Dragons head coach Kenny Prescott expects his squad to deal with its share of growing pains.
That’s been the case through the first two games of the season as Bangs followed a 28-26 loss to Cross Plains in Saturday’s season opener with a 43-17 defeat at the hands of Ballinger Tuesday night.
“It’s like how the first game went as well,” Prescott said following the conclusion of Tuesday’s contest. “We had some positives and did a lot of things well, but we have those negatives that come with inexperience. But as we play more games I expect some of those negatives and issues will go away.”
The biggest issue for Bangs (0-2) Tuesday night was turnovers, as Ballinger (1-1) capitalized on 31 giveaways by the Lady Dragons.
“Where we have the most youth is at the guard positions,” Prescott said. “Our strength by far right now is the post and inside, while our lowest experience level is at guard, so that’s going to be where we’re going to struggle early. But I appreciate Ballinger pressing and us learning and growing through that.”
Bangs committed 12 turnovers in the first period alone but trailed just 6-4 at the end of the quarter. The Lady Dragons reduced their number of turnovers in each quarter going forward, but were unable to find a hot hand from the floor.
Audrey Ivey led Bangs with six points followed by Jacee Miller with four, Cloie Montague with the Lady Dragons’ lone three-pointer, and Maggie Morales and Brooklynn Mullins with two points apiece.
For Ballinger – which finished with 16 turnovers, but committed only two in the second half – Cynthia Camarillo tallied a game- high 11 points followed by Jenna Battle with 10, Jersey Perkins with seven, Emma Toliver with five, Avery Knickerbocker and Jewel Klaras with three each, and Addison Martin and Dani Pena with two points apiece.
Trailing just 6-4 after one quarter, the Lady Dragons put another four-spot on the board in the second period and trailed 15-8 at halftime. Ballinger began to warm up in the third period and extended its lead to 28-12. Bangs then went scoreless over the last 5:33 of the contest which allowed Ballinger to tally the final 10 points.
“Toward the end we got a little tired and started making some dumb mistakes we normally wouldn’t make, but for three quarters we competed well with them,” Prescott said.
The Lady Dragons are slated to return to the court Saturday at Hawley.
“One thing I do know is they have volleyball, just like us, so it will be our first opponent that had the same amount of prep time as us,” Prescott said. “After that game we’ll know more about how we’re looking. Both Cross Plains and Ballinger, in theory, should be better than us right now because they don’t have volleyball and they’ve been at this since August. We are where we want to be right now, but we have to continue to grow.”
