If you don't play defense, you're going to have a difficult time playing for the California Lady Pintos.
On the other hand, since the Lady Pintos do play defense, they make it tough to play against them.
California held Hermann scoreless in the second quarter Saturday on its way to a 49-39 win in the Missouri National Guard Shootout at Fleming Fieldhouse.
"I didn't even realize we did that," California coach Bobby Sangster said. "But we can lock down a lot of teams, we know how to defend. If you can play defense, you will play and we have girls who can do that."
The Lady Bearcats went 0-for-5 from the field with seven turnovers in the quarter. But the Lady Pintos only scored six points of their own to turn a 13-10 deficit after the first quarter into a 16-13 advantage at the half.
"We're still looking for girls who can score at the varsity level," Sangster said. "We're making good plays a lot of the time on offense, it's just the ball isn't falling as much as we would like."
Hermann was stuck at 13 on the scoreboard for 9:45 of game-time before hitting a free throw early in the third quarter. A short jumper by Kayla Allison gave California a 20-14 advantage with 6:10 to go in the period.
Hermann's offense then came to life as the Lady Bearcats went on a 9-0 run to take a three-point lead. The Lady Pintos and Lady Bearcats went back-and-forth for the final half of the third quarter, which ended tied at 27.
"We're a young team that's still figuring things out," Sangster said. "We make mistakes that young players are going to make."
A mistake the Lady Pintos have made this season is not making their free throws in crunch time. And heading into the fourth quarter tied is definitely crunch time.
But not on Saturday.
"We've been working hard on it because we've been in situations this year where not making free throws has bitten us," Sangster said. "But today, we had multiple girls do that."
Sparked by a 7-of-10 performance at the line in the fourth quarter, the Lady Pintos slowly pulled away for the 10-point victory.
"If we ever catch fire, we're going to be fun to watch because we have a lot of dangerous pieces," Sangster said. "We didn't catch fire today, but we played well enough to get the win."
Cameron Meyer had seven of her nine points in the final period for California, going 3-for-3 from the field. Meyer just missed a double-double, finishing with a game-high nine rebounds.
"Cameron did a great job of catching and finishing, which is something she has struggled with at times this season," Sangster said.
Elizabeth Lutz, a freshman, scored 12 points to lead California and was named the game's MVP.
The Lady Pintos have just two seniors and one of them, Kelsey Roush, was sick last week before returning to practice Friday. And while she didn't score, Sangster said her presence meant a lot in the victory.
"She gave us every ounce of effort she had," Sangster said. "What she did was so much more important than anything you can see in the stats. She inspired us."
Tesla Rudiger had a game-high 13 points for Hermann, but those were a hard-fought 13 as Ellie Wirts of California made her work for them.
"Rudiger is the one that makes them go and Ellie did a great job defending her," Sangster said.
California (3-4) is off until a Dec. 29 game against Centralia in the MRMC Holiday Shootout in Moberly.
"I'm excited to see where this is going to go this season," Sangster said.
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