RAPID CITY - St. Thomas More used a stifling defensive effort to run away with a 45-16 Black Hills Conference girls basketball win Tuesday night at St. Thomas More High School.
The Cavaliers took a 19-3 lead after the first quarter as Megan Rafferty and Alexa White knocked down 3-pointers and Brittany Kjerstad scored all five of her points.
"They shot the ball a little better in that first quarter than I've seen them shoot this year, and it was hard for our girls to crawl out of that hole," Lead-Deadwood head coach Rob Hafer said.
Much of that had to do with the More defense, particularly in the final 16 minutes of the game. The Cavaliers held Lead-Deadwood to scoring outputs of three, five, five and three points in each quarter of the game.
"I was very pleased with our defense in the second half, not so much in the first half," More head coach Brandon Kandolin said.
"That's what we've been doing is just hammering and fouling and putting people in the bonus right away. They were into the bonus with, what a minute left in the first (quarter). I think we can play pressure defense, but we're still trying to figure out where to be and how to get to the right positions."
The More pressure was what Hafer felt his girls had the toughest time with.
"They got a little physical with us and we seemed to back down from it too much," Hafer said. "We let them be the aggressor. We just need to learn how to deal with the pressure. We've had a few games where we've done that this year but it's just a mental thing for us right now."
The Cavaliers didn't have a single scorer in double figures, but they did have 11 players score, led by Rafferty's eight points. Morgan Pearson, a 5-10 senior, also had seven points and seven rebounds.
"That's definitely a good thing for us as far as I do believe that all 14 girls can contribute to the team in some way," Kandolin said.
"It doesn't seem like we have one true standout, but at any time somebody might step up and knock down a few more shots or do something defensively to help us win a game."
The Cavaliers (8-5, 8-0 BHC) will play Chamberlain at 5 p.m. Saturday before a big conference clash with the Newell Irrigators on Tuesday in Newell.
The Irrigators are currently 9-1 overall and 7-1 in conference play, with their only loss coming to More in the teams' first game of the season.
Danielle Bellet led the Golddiggers with seven points.
Lead-Deadwood (4-7, 4-4 BHC) will play at Sturgis in a non-conference tilt Thursday at 5:30 p.m.
