Cardinal Boys Begin Conference Play

The Soda Springs Cardinals began their conference play last Thursday on the road in Dayton taking on the West Side Pirates.  West Side is currently sitting at the top of the conference along with Declo.  Meanwhile the Cardinals have had a bit of a see-saw season that has seen some great wins but also some devastating losses.  Some of those losses can be attributed to injury and illness while others were very competitive close games.

In Thursday’s game the Cardinals struggled early to get many clean looks at the basket.  The active defense of the Pirates combined with some hot shooting helped West Side jump out to an early lead.  By the end of the first quarter Soda Springs already trailed by double digits.  In the second quarter the Cardinals did a far better job at attacking the rim which got them to the foul line several times.  The Cardinals took advantage of those opportunities going six for eight on those attempts.  Soda Springs added a trio of three point shots from Hansen, Thompson, and Martinsen.  The Cardinals had managed to get the lead down to just seven points but a halftime buzzer beater from the Pirates pushed it back to ten.  In the third quarter the Cardinals continued to get opportunities at the foul line making the trip to the charity stripe six times.  However they had less success capitalizing on those trips making just fifty percent of the shots.  A three pointer from Jacobson and eight points from Hansen helped keep the Cardinals afloat in the third but they could not chip away at the ten point deficit they faced at the half.  In the fourth quarter the Cardinals could not get many shots to fall and were unable to keep pace with the Pirates.  Late in the game the coaches emptied the benches and the Cardinals fell to the Pirates in the conference opener by thirteen points.

The Cardinals faced Grace on the road Tuesday, a game that had not yet taken place at the time of the writing of this article.  Following the game against Grace the Cardinals will jump back into conference play by hosting the other top team in the conference the Declo Hornets.  That game takes place Saturday night in Soda Springs.

Cardinals 7 15 15 7 44

Pirates 18 14 15 10 57

G.Hansen 19, C.Thompson 12, C.Jacobson 4, K.Kirby 5, L.Martinsen 4