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Darlington excels in defense department
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    DARLINGTON – Defense was the name of the game for the Darlington girls’ basketball team as the Lady Redbirds finished off the first-half of the conference season by using a surplus in the defense department to sink the visiting Boscobel Bulldogs, 57-23, in SWAL action at DHS on Thursday, Jan. 19.
    “Our defense against Boscobel certainly finished strong. Early on we were giving up too many open looks and, luckily, they were not able to take advantage,” Darlington head coach Michael Chambers said. “In the second half, we did a much better job of recognizing shooters and taking away those good looks.”
    The Redbirds (8-5 overall, 5-2 in SWAL) grabbed control of the game from the early stages, doubling up the Bulldogs (5-8, 3-4) in the first quarter, 16-8, and outscoring them 17-8 in the second quarter to race out to a 33-16 halftime lead.
    The ‘Birds put even more distance between themselves and the Bulldogs in the third quarter, pouring in 18 points on the offensive end of the court while limiting the ‘Dawgs to just two points in the stanza to build up a 33-point cushion.
    Junior guard Cassidy Chambers paced the Redbirds’ raid by scoring 11 of her game-high 21 points in the third quarter. She also had two assists and two steals in that period.
    Senior point guard Amy Jorgenson scored 16 points and added three steals and three assists.
    Claire Scott tallied 10 rebounds, five points and two blocked shots for Darlington, while Kaitlyn Wall contributed eight rebounds and Haily McGowan and AnnaLisa Ruesga each pulled down five boards.
    “A big reason why we were able to hold Boscobel to 23 points was because they just didn’t get too many second chance opportunities,” noted Chambers. “Having nine girls score was also a big plus.”   
    Lachen Esters led Boscobel with 12 points.
    Fennimore (7-0) posted a 48-41 win over Cuba City (6-1) on Thursday night to take sole possession of the top spot in the SWAL. Darlington currently sits third in the league at 5-2.  
    “Things are going well at this point, but we have to get better as we move into the second half of the conference schedule. The top teams are coming up again,” said Chambers.
    Darlington hosts Southwestern in a league game on Friday, Jan. 27.

Boscobel…..   8    8    2   5 - 23
Darlington… 16  17  18   6 - 57
Leading Scorers: Cassidy Chambers 21, Amy Jorgenson 16, Claire Scott 5, AnnaLisa Ruesga 4, Tatum Evenstad 3, Haily McGowan 2, Mallory Busch 2, Abigail Merriam 2, Kaitlyn Wall 2.