The Van-Far girls had these problems last year as well but had more positives this time.

Gary Filbert Classic Photo Gallery

In the Lady Indians’ season opener, they lost 64-53 Saturday to Mexico at the Gary Filbert Classic in Mexico, losing to the Lady Bulldogs at the event for the second straight year. Van-Far led Mexico 33-32 at halftime.

Head coach Heather Minter said her roster full of underclassmen has grown a year but are still young and need to overcome slow starts. Van-Far took the lead several times in the second quarter after falling behind 18-12 after the first quarter and went into halftime with the lead on a steal-and-score by sophomore Mylee Keller. Then, the Lady Indians scored three points in the first six minutes of the second half.

“It was a slow start, kind of like last year,” Minter said. “We have to find a way to get us back going again. That’s what killed us, and we also felt like second shots killed us.”

Claire Hudson had another big game for Mexico, like last year’s Filbert Classic meeting, with 29 points, seven rebounds and three 3-pointers. However, Minter referred to the moments girls like Scottie Smith and Alyssa Miller put back misses to grow Mexico’s lead. 

The Lady Bulldogs couldn’t stop Van-Far inside much, however, with Chloe Zumwalt posting in the paint. The sophomore had 16 points after the first half and finished with 22 points and six rebounds. Minter said she thought Zumwalt could shine with Mexico’s primary post Kenzie Taylor out with injury and like how she was 6-for-6 from the free-throw line and how Keller was 4-for-4 from the line amongst her eight points.

“Zumy is going to have big games for us,” Minter said. “She’s just grown and played well. We’ve been struggling with free throws, but tonight, we hit them so that was another plus for us.”

While the second half was not the way Van-Far wanted to end Saturday, Minter said the game as a whole was a solid start and needs to be built upon more during the rest of the season. 

“A lot of it is just us rushing,”Minter said about her team’s struggles. “We get down and we panic, or we get down and it’s like we don’t know what to do. We were down in the first half, and we fought back. It’s just them growing. They’ll figure it out for us. I’m proud of how they battled tonight.”

Van-Far plays at 6 p.m. tonight at Community R-6.