The Martin girls’ basketball team took a giant step toward winning the Southwest Athletic Conference division championship at Gobles Friday evening.
The Lady Clippers defeated their hosts 56-42 in an unusually high scoring affair. Martin customarily uses its defense to win games.
Last night was an awesome win for us!” exclaimed coach Ben Schipper. “We stayed undefeated in the Central Division, extending our lead over Gobles, whose only two losses in the division have been to us.”
The Clippers wasted no time in establishing a solid lead, running out to a 17-5 advantage iin the first period.
“We started so strong thanks to great ball movement and aggressiveness. We went up 8-0 and grew our lead to 20 at 29-9,” Schipper added.
Makala Goddard had 9 points in the first quarter making her first four shots and 6 points in the second going an efficient 5-7 in the first half. She finished with a game high 18.
“Gobles started full denying her toward the end of the second quarter, which took away her scoring, but I was very proud of the way she stayed composed, didn’t force shots, and played through the physicality that was allowed all night,” the coach said. “That didn’t slow us down too much, as it was so great having all of our girls be a threat on the floor. We’ve really been stressing that over the last several weeks. We had five girls score at least seven points showing the offensive potential our team has yet to really show this year.”
He said free throws were also huge. as Martin went 13-16, a team best all year. Gobles actually narrowed the lead to nine in the second half but the Clippers stayed composed and hit clutch free throws.
Makala Goddard had 18 points, Cirsten Coburn had 11, Macy Thorne and Avery Jager eight apiece and Lynsey Jager seven.
The Clippers now are 7-0 in divisional play this season and 12-3 overall. Gobles now is 3-2 in the division.
The Clipper guys lost 45-21 against a Gobles team they defeated last December and their season record overall sank to 2-12.
