ALBIA — Times have been tough this season for the Cardinal girls basketball team.
Times used to be tough not that long ago for the Albia girls basketball team. So far this season, the Lady Dees are a shining example of how quickly fortunes can turn with just a little more time together on the hardwood.
Lillian DeMoss led Albia with 18 points and six steals, pacing a balanced effort on both ends of the court for the Lady Dees in a 76-31 South Central Conference win over Cardinal on Friday. The win sends Albia into the holiday break with a 6-1 record, just one win away from matching last year’s total of seven wins while putting the Lady Dees on pace for the program’s first winning season since 2018.
“Anytime you go into the holiday break with a 6-1 record, you’re going to be pretty happy,” Albia head girls basketball coach Katy Dykes said. “Any coach is going to be excited about that, especially with the way our kids have been playing. It’s been fun watching them get up and down the court.”
DeMoss set the tone for the Lady Dees right off the bat on Friday, scoring four points while collecting two of Albia’s 17 total steals during a game-opening 11-1 run. By the time the opening quarter was over, the Lady Dees had put 29 points on the scoreboard hitting 12 of 21 field goals attempts while owning a 14-5 rebounding edge with six different Albia players contributing to nine steals and seven assists in the first eight minutes.
“We’ve improved a lot. It comes down to teamwork. We’ve got a group of girls that have all been playing together since my freshman year,” DeMoss said. “It’s fun when you can drive the ball into the post and have the confidence that you can kick it back out to a wide-open shooter or be able to take it right to the basket.
“It’s basically barbecue chicken from there.”
While DeMoss finished as the leading scorer, the Lady Dees swarmed the Comets with a balanced effort on both ends of the court. Four different Albia players reached double figures in scoring, including a 14-point effort from Brianna Driver and 13 points from Olivia Sheffield as the duo combined to hit six of Albia’s eight made 3-pointers in the contest.
Aliyah Hood added 12 points while adding five assists and four steals. By the end of the night, seven different players collected at least one steal with DeMoss and Hood combining for 18 points off steals in the first three quarters of the game.
“That’s really how our team has been playing. I think it’s why we’ve been playing so well,” Dykes said. “We get tons of tips on balls, lots of steals and we’ve a very aggressive team. It’s been to watch because they like to share the ball. They have almost as much fun passing the ball as they do shooting it.”
Albia hit more field goals in the first quarter than Cardinal hit in the entire game. The Comets hit just 20 percent from the field, making eight of 40 shot attempts.
“Albia is a really good program that has grown from their freshman season on up,” Cardinal head girls basketball coach Gretta Rath said. “We’ve got a bunch of players that are just seeing varsity time for the first time ever this year. The pace of the game, being on shooters and learning a new system is tough.”
Albia, 6-1 overall and 3-1 in the SCC, returns to the hardwood for an SCC contest against Clarke at home on Jan. 7. Cardinal, 0-8 overall and 0-5 in SCC play, is off until a home conference game with Chariton on Jan. 10
“I told the girls to keep their heads up,” Rath said. “There’s still a lot of season left and they’re improving every day.”
