Defense sparks Salina South girls basketball in 41-21 victory over Buhler
Salina South's girls struggled offensively for a second straight night Friday, but it hardly mattered.
A lockdown defensive effort saw to that.
The Cougars forced 18 first-half Buhler turnovers, limiting the Crusaders to six points before intermission on the way to a 41-21 Salina Invitational Tournament consolation semifinal victory at the South gym.
"Our girls rose to the challenge and played with a lot of energy on defense," South coach Justin Ebert said. "That's two good games on that side.
"When you struggled scoring the ball, you need to be good on that side. We struggled finding somebody to knock down a shot, but we were finally able to knock down a couple to give us some separation."
That somebody was Elena Herbel, whose back-to-back 3-pointers helped South to an 11-2 lead after one quarter. Sydney Peterson then picked it up with eight of her game-high 16 points in the second period as the Cougars led 22-6 at halftime.
"We like to focus on defense and let the offense flow from there," said Herbel, who finished with eight points. "On the first (3-pointer), I was open so I just shot it. I was able to get open again and they found me.
"That gave us a little spark and everybody else got energized and pumped us up. I just hope we can come out with the same energy (Saturday)."
The Cougars, who improved to 3-8, will face Abilene for fifth place at 2 p.m. Saturday in the South gym. It was their second victory this year over Buhler (1-8), which takes on Wichita West in the 11 a.m. seventh-place game.
South shot just 33.3% from the field, but held Buhler to 31% while forcing 27 turnovers. The also outrebounded the Crusaders, 26-25, led by Herbel with six.
For Buhler, Grace Oard led the way with nine points off the bench. Grace Baxter had six rebounds.
This article originally appeared on Salina Journal: Salina South girls basketball beats Buhler in Salina Invitational
