Lady Wildcats' defense bottles up Bunceton

New Bloomfield Lady Wildcats head coach Brett Craighead thought his team could have guarded the Bunceton Lady Dragons a little better.

Still, New Bloomfield's defense was plenty effective in dispatching Bunceton 43-27 on Monday night.

The Lady Wildcats (5-2) jumped out to a 21-9 advantage at halftime, but the Lady Dragons outgained New Bloomfield 12-8 in the third to draw to within 29-21.

"We gave up three 3's in that third quarter, and it was simply we didn't get out and get a hand up and we just got complacent," Craighead said. "We gave up 27, but we could have kept them under 20."

Senior center Brooke Kelley guided the Lady Wildcats with a game-high 11 points.

"She's probably one of our best shooters in the post and I thought she did a good job getting some shots off in the mid range and the post, so it's nice to see her have a good game," Craighead said.

Freshman guard Madi Craighead finished with nine points and five steals, while senior forward Taylor Howard totaled eight points and a team-best seven rebounds.

Deanne Emde scored 10 points to pace Bunceton (1-5).

New Bloomfield plays a varsity-only game at Belle at 6 p.m. Thursday.