The Lake Havasu girls basketball team will have to wait a little longer to surpass last year’s win total.
The Knights were routed 54-19 at home by the Parker Broncs on Tuesday. Havasu dropped to 1-1 on the season while the Broncs improved to 3-0 and won their third consecutive game by double digits.
“They’re very well coached. Hats off to their coach” Knights coach Charles Welde said. “They’re fundamentally sound. They did a good job with their press and great job with their pressure. We’re going to see pressure like that throughout the year.”
The Knights were held to single digits in each quarter and struggled with turnovers and the Broncs’ full-court press all night. The closest score of the game was a 2-1 deficit for the Knights in the first quarter. That point was scored by Celeste Switzer on a free throw and that was their only point of the quarter, as the Knights were held without a basket.
After the Knights’ point, the Broncs went on a 21-0 run to end the quarter.
“We really need to work on our turnovers and make complete passes,” Switzer said. “We just need to work together as a team, and once we start practicing more together, I think we’ll really come together.”
Parker continued its dominance in the second quarter, outscoring Havasu 14-5 in the quarter and going into halftime ahead 37-6. The Knights made two baskets in the quarter, one each from Swizter and Lauryn Roach. Maria Mack had an assist on both plays. Mack scored one point on a free throw.
The Broncs led 44-11 after the third quarter and the fourth was played with a running clock. The Knights only scored five points in the third while their highest-scoring quarter was in the fourth with eight.
“We just need to learn how to compose ourselves,” Knights point guard Hannah Gayo said. “Calm down with the ball and slow it down.”
Mack was the Knights leading scorer with six points while Acacia Daley had four, followed by Switzer with three. Roach, Kawai Kalaui and Sabrina Darnell each had two points.
Tallia Robledo scored a game-high 12 points for the Broncs, followed by 10 from Adryana Robledo, and eight each from Casandra Sandoval and Beth McCabe.
“You want to build on positives, and I would say the biggest takeaway was the effort,” Welde said. “When we were able to get into our half-court offense, we were able to generate some shots, a lot didn’t fall, but we did generate some good looks and I thought our post play was solid. Those are things we’ll take away when we get ready for our road trip on Friday.”
Up next
Havasu heads to Yuma High on Friday to take on a Criminals team that is 1-2. The Knights fell 46-21 to the Criminals at home last season. Friday’s game is scheduled for a 5:30 p.m. tip off.