Charger Girls "lay an egg" at CAM, Lose 62-40

The term "laid an egg" has become a part of the vocabulary of sports. The term originated in England's game of cricket. When a player failed to score a point in a match, he was said to have laid a duck's egg because a zero looks like a an egg on a scoreboard.

Over time the term came to mean a less than stellar performance that included Broadway plays and of course athletic everts. Unfortunately last Thursday's performance by the ACGC girls' basketball team in Anita falls into the "laid an egg" category.

The game with CAM was expected to be an even match, as both teams had similar records and both had recently lost close games with highly regarded Ex-EHK. But it was quite the opposite.

Early on the Chargers stayed with the Cougars, as ACGC made its first three shots (two by Alaina Bunde and a trey by Taylor Carlson) and trailed by just 9-7 three minutes into the game. But that was the end of any scoring by the Chargers until the six minute mark of the SECOND quarter!

The Chargers went zero for ten to close the first frame and also missed their first two shots of the second quarter. Down by a 21-7 score after the first eight minutes, the deficit was too much for the visitors to overcome.

Relentless pressure by the Cougars at both full court and half court resulted in eight first quarter turnovers that added to the misery for ACGC. The Cougars substituted liberally, sometimes replacing all five players to keep their players fresh and the pressure on.

Although the second quarter was played more evenly, the Chargers didn't gain any ground and trailed 31-16 at halftime. Unofficial statistics show the Cougars shooting 52% from the floor in the first half, while ACGC shot just 26%. Multiple turnovers and less than adequate shooting are not a recipe for success.

Things didn't get any better in the opening minutes of the second half, as the Chargers remained cold from the field and did not score for over four minutes. The Cougars took advantage and increased their lead to 40-16 before Kylie Young scored the first ACGC points of the second half. A highlight for the Chargers was a 6-0 run at the end of the the quarter, during which they put up nine consecutive shots. By quarter's end the score was 47-26.

Charger coach Brad Baudler post game comments reflected what occurred on the court. "We need to come ready to play and attack pressure instead of going away away from it. It was a tough loss against a good team. We showed fight at the end of the third, but it was a little too late."

ACGC shot 30% for the game, connecting on 16 of 54 shot attempts which includes 3 of 17 shooting on three point tries. They were 5 of 10 from the free throw line. Individually, no Charger scored in double figures. Young and Bunde each scored 9 points, while Emma Kaye McClain netted 8 points, and Taylor Carlson had 7. Bunde came up with 8 boards and Young had 4 steals.

Score by quarter:

ACAC 7 9 10 14--40

CAM 21 10 16 15--62

Charger statistics: (TP-REB-ASSTS-STLS) TCarlson (7-3-0-1) Dorsey (0-1-2-1) Young (9-3-1-4) McClain (8-2-2-2) Bunde (9-8-1-2) Van Meter (2-0-0-0) KCarlson (0-1-0-0) Carney (0-1-0-1) Coffman (0-1-0-0) Schreck (0-0-0-0) O'Brien (1-1-1-1) Richter (2-5-0-0) Byars (2-1-0-0)

Buttler ( 0-0-1-0)