(Atlantic) Jacy Kralik drained eight straight free throws in the waning moments to seal a 52-41 win on Tuesday over Atlantic in a girl’s high school basketball game at Atlantic.
Kralik led the Panthers with 17-points, Briana Fields contributed 11, and Doryn Paup finished the night with eight points.
Paytn Harter led Atlantic with 19-points. Jada Jensen scored 10, and Maddie Huddleson ended the night with eight points.
The Panthers raced off on a 6-0 run and led 18-10 at the end of the first quarter. Fields and Paup scored six and four points respectively to lead the charge.
Paytn Harter came off the bench for Atlantic with 2:02 to play in the first quarter and scored six points to give the home team some momentum. The Trojans shut down Paup and Fields to no points in the second quarter while outscoring the Panthers 10-7, led by Harter’s six second-quarter points.
“We went into a diamond and one defense,” said Atlantic Head Coach Dan Vargason. “We wanted to give them a different look. He was expecting a 1-2-2 zone, and we didn’t run it. We are going to run a lot of different defensive sets this season. I thought our girls battled.”
The Trojans cut the Panther’s lead to two points on several different occasions in the second half. The Panthers led 36-28 after three quarters and held off the home team at the end led by Jacy Kraliks, 8-9 shooting from the free-throw line.
Creston, 2-1, travel to Nodaway Valley on Friday.
Atlantic, 0-2, heads to Glenwood on Friday for a girl/boy doubleheader. We will have both games on 95.7 FM. Pre-game for the girls starts at 5:45 p.m., with tip-off at 6:00 p.m. The boy’s game will follow.
