(Anita) Leah Subbert scored 21 points and Jaci Christensen added 16 as the Audubon Wheeler girls topped CAM Thursday on the road by a score of 53-45. Coach Darran Miller’s squad made 24/33 free-throws in the tussle including 9/10 in the 2nd half. Aleah Hermansen led the effort at the charity stripe, with eight of her ten points coming on freebies.
Leah Subbert hit a three-pointer early in the game to put the visitors in front. They led by as much as six in the opening minutes before CAM chipped away. The Cougars closed the first quarter on a strong stretch and Sammi Jahde’s driving basket in the final seconds of the frame gave CAM their first lead at 14-13.
The lead flip-flopped four times in the 2nd quarter. CAM’s Zoey Baylor and Mallory Behnken combined for 14 of the team’s 25 first half points to keep the Cougars within four at the break. Audubon played with the lead the entire 2nd half, but CAM closed the gap to as tight as four on multiple occasions. The Wheeler’s six straight points to start the 4th helped them extend the lead to double figures. Christensen had 9 of her 15 points after halftime and also grabbed 13 rebounds on the night with six of them coming on the offensive end.
CAM made one last comeback bid midway through the 4th. The Cougars found enough momentum to cut the ten point deficit in half at 47-42. A couple of big shots rimmed out and Audubon’s free-throw shooting was solid. The Wheelers rank #1 in Class 1A in team free-throw percentage for the season at 70%. Outside of Hermansen’s 8/8 display at the line, Subbert was 8/11 and Christensen was 5/6. The Wheelers did a good job defensively of identifying CAM’s main offensive weapons and held the Cougars to 0/17 3-point shooting.
Audubon moves to 14-7 on the year. CAM drops to 13-6 on the season. The Cougars had 12 points from Zoey Baylor, with 8 each from Marissa Spieker and Naomi Grubbs.
