Lady Vandals drop fourth straight

After winning the first game of the season, the Lady Vandals basketball team has now lost four straight.

Monday night, Vandalia lost to Greenville, 62-45. The Lady Vandals were once again led by freshman Amber Bruno, who had 20 points in the loss.

Vandalia is back in action on Thursday, as it plays host to Hillsboro, with the junior varsity playing at 6 p.m. and varsity following.

Piasa 59

Vandalia 20

Not a lot went right for the Lady Vandals on Saturday against Piasa. A big first quarter for the Birds was almost all they needed as Piasa won easily 59-20.

In the first quarter, Vandalia gave up 20 points, 14 of which were on the board before Vandalia could score its first basket, with 3:30 remaining in the first. Amber Bruno’s lone two-pointer was the extent of the Lady Vandals’ offense, and they were in a 20-2 hole going into the second quarter.

“We started hanging our heads early, and it carried on through the rest of the game,” head coach Michelle McNary said.

Vandalia’s offense picked up some in the second quarter, but five of its nine points came from Bruno, as the rest of the team was more content to pass the ball off than to shoot or try to penetrate Piasa defense.

“We didn’t look in, we didn’t look to shoot. I know (Piasa’s) size was part of that. We were intimidated by their size a lot, and we just didn’t take care of the ball, plain and simple,” McNary said. “When we did look to penetrate, they got their hands in there and knocked it away from us.”

With seconds to go in the first half, Vandalia had a chance to get the final shot, but the Vandals passed the ball around too much and burned through the final second without even getting a shot off. They headed to the locker room down 33-11.

Things would only get worse in the third quarter, as Vandalia was outscored 15-2. Its only basket came on a shot by Bruno with 28 seconds remaining in the quarter.

Vandalia started the fourth with a 6-0 run, but scored just once in the final five minutes, a free throw by Hannah Edwards.

Bruno had a team-high 12 points.

“Some of her shots she (Bruno) was forcing, I think, because no one else was looking to score so she was probably trying to do more than she should have been but I’m not going to fault her for that,” McNary said. “At least she was looking to score, which some of our other girls really weren’t.”