Garden Plain girls hit the boards to beat Trinity Academy

January had been a low stress month for Garden Plain girls coach Kody Kasselman, thanks in part to good shooting by the Owls.

That changed Tuesday night, as Garden Plain struggled to connect against host Trinity Academy’s matchup zone.

But more often than not, when a shot went awry, the Owls were able to grab it. Using a 42-19 rebounding edge, Garden Plain outlasted Trinity 41-30 in a Central Plains League contest.

“We just didn’t hit the shots tonight,” Kasselman said. “Effort-wise, it was still there. Rebounding really was the difference. We got a lot of second-chance shots.”

Senior Ryann Flax made 4 of 5 shots from the field and scored 11 points to lead Garden Plain (7-2), which won its fifth consecutive game. But the rest of the Owls combined to make 10 of 43 attempts.

Still, Garden Plain’s rebounding allowed it to protect the lead most of the game. Senior Paige Hoheisel, sidelined since sustaining a meniscus injury in a Dec. 9 loss to Rose Hill, grabbed 13 rebounds. Junior Taylor Joplin, who made 3 of 16 shots, added 12 rebounds as the Owls scored 17 second-chance points.

“We probably haven’t played a team with as good of rebounders and as aggressive as Garden Plain,” said Trinity coach Rex Casner, whose team fell to 6-4. “We played mostly matchup and were hesitant to find our man at times.”

Garden Plain stretched a 21-18 halftime lead to 31-22 after three quarters after Flax hit the second of her two three-pointers.

But Trinity, which stayed patient against Garden Plain’s zone and limited its turnovers against the Owls’ full-court press, was within 33-26 with 5:19 to play. After Trinity’s Reagan Lesser missed two free throws, Joplin scored on a putback for Garden Plain, then Flax added a free throw.

The Owls maintained a double-digit lead for the final 3 1/2 minutes.

“We’re still trying to get back in sync with Paige,” Kasselman said. “It was nice to have her out there, especially on the glass. She struggled with some stickbacks, but we’ll get those from her later.”

Freshman Lindsey Scheufler led Trinity with nine points and senior reserve Ally Henderson added eight. It was the Knights’ second consecutive loss in the CPL.

“All in all, we still took some steps forward against a very good team,” Casner said. “They put a lot of pressure on us, but I thought we did a good job of staying with them.”

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This story was originally published January 17, 2017 at 9:50 PM with the headline "Garden Plain girls hit the boards to beat Trinity Academy."