Danielle King scored 32 points as the win gave Bloom a stranglehold on the conference crown.
Foul trouble. Leg cramps. A Rich South team that appeared to be waking up.
Bloom was in a heap of trouble late in the third quarter of Thursday’s critical Southland game.
In the past, the Blazing Trojans might have caved. But not any more.
“We’ve gotten used to playing with a lot of fouls and we learned to smarten up,” Danielle King said after Bloom finished for a 66-54 victory.
King had 32 points, Kat Strong 14 points and nine rebounds and Anika Johnson 11 points for the Blazing Trojans (16-6, 7-0).
Rich South (19-4, 6-2) was paced by Tierra Webb (18 points), Tierney Lockett (13 points) and Dasia Evans (11 points, 12 rebounds).
The win gave Bloom a two-game sweep and a stranglehold on the conference crown.
“This is big, another step up the ladder for us,” Strong said. “We wanted to win, we wanted to be undefeated for conference. We want to keep pushing to get it.”
Rich South, one of the Southland’s most successful shooting teams, had a disastrous night pretty much from start to finish.
The Stars missed clusters of layups, on some possessions three in a row. Yet Bloom had its own ball-control issues, and, worse, the fouls were piling up.
Johnson got her fourth with 4:08 left in the third quarter, Lumpkin her fourth less than a minute later.
Both were on the bench when Rich South, down by as many as 10, drew back within 45-43 on a basket by Lockett.
Strong’s calves, meanwhile, were starting to tighten up.
“Basically all us had some little cramps. We didn’t drink enough water,” she said.
Strong had to leave the game briefly after one minute of the fourth quarter. By then King had also accrued her fourth foul.
But somehow, someway, the Blazing Trojans’ zone defense continued to frustrate Rich South, which made just four baskets in the final eight minutes.
And nobody fouled out for Bloom.
“We all played together as a team,” Strong said. “We just talked to each other, told each other not to foul out, play smart, and we just finished off the game.”
If Rich South did one thing well it was to pull down 21 offensive rebounds. But at 19-for-69 shooting, it didn’t matter.
“There were a lot (of misses),” Rich South coach Brian Mays said. “What can I say? We had a lot of good looks in the first half, and the free throws (15-for-29) definitely weren’t good either. If you can miss a lot, we showed it tonight.
“It’s not the end of the world. We just have to reboot and get ready for the (state) playoffs.”
