Girls basketball: Burlington falls short in home loss to Waterloo East

The Burlington High School girls basketball team is struggling right now to score points and find wins.

One would never know it from watching the effort the girls put forth.

The Grayhounds hustle from opening tip to the final whistle Saturday afternoon.

Unfortunately, the ball didn't fall through the basket again as the Grayhounds dropped a 56-13 game to Waterloo East on the Don Gibbs Court at Johannsen Gymnasium.

It was the 24th-straight loss for the Grayhounds.

But it wasn't for lack of trying for BHS, which left everything it had on the court.

“We practice hard. We do good things. We just have to get reps I and hopefully it will transfer to the game," BHS head coach Dee Dee Warner said. “I really thought they played hard. We’ve got to get our shots to fall. I told them we’re not just running drills in practice just to run them. They’re for a purpose, so we can execute them in the game. That’s what our postgame talk was about.”

BHS (0-4) couldn't buy a basket in the first quarter. Waterloo East (2-4) scored the first 16 points of the game before Alexis Standard scored on a putback at the buzzer to get the Grayhounds on the scoreboard.

But even Standard struggled to find her shot. She led the Grayhounds with six points.

“I don’t know what’s going on with her. Normal she can knock those shots down," Warner said. "Some of them were a little long range. I don’t know if she didn’t have there legs from (Friday) night or what. They’ll fall eventually.”

Freshman Sophie Brown scored on a putback and Saydee Plummer drained a short jumper in the second quarter for BHS.

BHS shot just 8.7 percent (5-for-58) from the field on the day.

“I told them we’re rushing our shots," Warner said. "Just square up, take our time. If someone is on you, kick it out. Things like that. I don’t know why we’re getting in a hurry. I’m trying to fix it.”

Brown typified the Grayhounds' play, diving on the floor numerous times after loose balls.

“She likes to get after it. That’s what I like about her. She’s not afraid to be aggressive. That’s what we need — somebody who is not afraid to get on the floor to get some loose balls. She played really well tonight," Warner said. “The girls looked like they didn’t have any legs toward the end of the game. Defensively we just haver to do some boxing out. They got a lot of second chances that they shouldn’t have got. We’re going to work on it.”

Burlington hosts Oskaloosa on Tuesday, then had a some Southeast Conference game against Fairfield on Friday. The Grayhounds conclude the 2021 portion of the schedule on Dec. 21 with a home game against Mount Pleasant.

“We’re playing hard. We just have to execute the things we’ve done in practice, get them out here in the game. I’m proud of them," Warner said.

WATERLOO EAST (56)

Jaelah Standford 1-7 0-0 2, Ellasa Horton 4-9 1-2 9, Key'Lajaha Jefferson-Putman 6-16 0-2 18, Brooklyn Love 5-14 4-4 17, Denay Safford 2-5 0-0 6, Miah Norman 0-2 0-0 0, Ja'Miah Ceasar 1-4 0-0 2, Ja'Dajh Latiker 0-1 0-0 0, Tian Waters 1-1 0-0 2, Natalie Hill 0-1 0-0 0. Totals: 20-60 5-8 56.

BURLINGTON (11)

Myah Rehman 1-9 0-2 3, Sophie Brown 1-11 0-0 2, Ella Schroeder 0-5 0-0 0, Alexis Standard 2-19 2-3 6, Saydee Plummer 1-10 0-2 2, Emma Rohrer 0-4 0-0 0, Josephine Blazic 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 5-58 2-7 11.

Score by quarters

Waterloo East. 16. 7. 14 19. — 56

Burlington. 2. 4. 2. 5. — 13

Fouls: Waterloo East 12, Burlington 10. Fouled out: None. Technicals: None. 3-point goals: Waterloo East 11-27 (Jefferson-Putman 6-13, Love 3-7, Safford 2-3, Standford 0-2, Horton 0-2), Burlington 1-15 (Rehman 1-5, Rohrer 0-2, Standard 0-8).

Records: Waterloo East 2-4, Burlington 0-4.

This article originally appeared on The Hawk Eye: Grayhounds put forth effort, but can't get shots to fall