Lacassine head coach Jeremy Hollier refers to his team as being vertically challenged, but the Cardinals’ lack of height didn’t matter in a 66-37 win over Grand Lake Thursday in the Iowa/Mallett Builders basketball tournament.

The Cardinals (12-6) made up for the lack of height with a long-range attack. Lacassine made a 3-pointer on seven consecutive possessions late in the first quarter, with the streak ending on a three-point play by Sydnie Cooley, to build a 30-11 lead it never relinquished.

Lacassine concludes pool play today with a game against district rival Hathaway.

Cooley scored 11 of her game-high 21 points in the first quarter and jump-started the three-point outburst, which featured three straight makes by Hallie Davis.

“We were moving the ball quick, sharing the ball,” Hollier said. “I guess it is kind of contagious. One starts shooting the ball well and the others want to join in since it’s so much fun. We’re not trying to make it too complicated. We want to be aggressive and play fast.”

The Cardinals outburst was fueled by pressure defense which produced a stream of first-half turnovers.

“For the most part our defense has been pretty consistent,” Hollier said. “We’re small so we have to create some turnovers and extra possessions with our defense. We don’t rebound very well since we are vertically challenged, so we try to get some possessions back that way.”

Hollier said his young team is willing to work.

“It’s been a fun group, we don’t have too many bad days,” he said. “Their effort level is really high. They are a fun group. We have four seniors, two juniors then four freshmen and four eighth-graders. We don’t have a ton of experience, but they are all hungry and want to learn and want to win. They work hard every day.”

Meghann Reeves scored none points to lead Grand Lake, including six in the first quarter.

Bell City…..58

Iowa…………27

The Bruins opened the game with an 11-2 run and never trailed in its first game of the tournament.

Mea Herpin led Bell City with 14 points. Tyler Ellis scored 12 and Peyton Herpin added 11. Bell City scored the final eight points of the first quarter to build a nine-point lead, with Peyton Herpin scoring the final five points of the run with a 3-pointer and layup after making a steal.

Mea Herpin and Ellis scored six points each in the second quarter as the Bruins stretched their lead to 15 points.

Kimora Celestine led Iowa with 16 points.