Defense wins a lot of basketball games and two teams with a reputation of being two of the top defensive squads in the area battled on Saturday, Jan. 6 at Algona High School as Garner-Hayfield/Ventura held off a stubborn Bulldog team by the score of 43-38.
The two teams traded field goals to start the game before the home team grabbed its first lead of the game at 4-2. The Cardinals responded with the next six points and led 10-6 at the end of the game’s first eight minutes of action.
In the second frame, non-conference contest was very tight with the biggest lead of the quarter being four points as the visitors held a narrow 24-23 advantage at intermission.
The third period was a defensive clinic as just four points were scored in the first six minutes of play before Garner-Hayfield/Ventura scored the final eight points of the stanza to lead 34-25 at the quarter break.
Algona fought back in the final period and cut the lead to four at 37-33 with just under two minutes to play in the game but the Cardinals connected on 6-of-8 free throws to hold on for a hard-fought 43-38 victory.
For more on this story, please see the Jan. 11 issue of Kossuth County Advance