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By Jed Blackwell

 

The first half was a little bit uneven. The second was anything but.

Polk County’s girls came roaring out of the halftime break to score 23 third-quarter points, nearly doubling their first half output and turning a tight game into a blowout, pulling away to beat Madison 66-30 in their season opener on Tuesday night.

“We kind of fell asleep in the first quarter,” Polk County coach Brandy Alm said. “We changed defenses up in the second half, needed to force transition, needed to get out and go with it. I really wanted to work on some different defenses, but we went back to the bread and butter, full-court man-to-man, and got after it.”

Bailey Staton, Kylie Lewis and Mia Bradley keyed the third-quarter outburst as they knocked down 22 of the 23 points in the frame. Staton made two 3-point shots and one old-fashioned three-point play, Lewis had three tough inside buckets and a pair of free throws, and Bradley knocked down a three and converted a steal into a layup. Charley Dusenbury’s free throw was the other Wolverine point in the quarter, as Polk County turned a 25-15 halftime advantage into a rout.

Staton led the way for Polk County with 18 points, Bradley had 13 and the two largely controlled the perimeter, combining for six made 3-pointers. Bradley made four steals and Staton dished out four assists.

Meanwhile, Lewis and Kiera Littlejohn were having their way in the paint. Lewis notched a double-double with 15 points and 11 rebounds, and generally filled up the stat sheet otherwise with an assist and two steals. Littlejohn made 4-of-5 shots from the field, finishing with eight points and seven rebounds.

“The twin towers,” Alm said with a grin. “They’re just very fundamentally sound. They know where the other one is. They look for each other. They talk to each other. They communicate very well. And they trust each other. That’s something that’s been built over the past three years.”