"I just hope it is because we are so young. We just keep making mistakes on the simple things rather than putting a dagger in against teams."
Mason also credited Casey for making sure her team had numerous problems during the game.
"I told our girls that I think Casey County is the best team in the 12th Region," Mason said.
"They shoot the ball so well. We had to slow down, which is not our game, to compensate for what they do."
Casey's defense limited Boyle to 13-for-37 shooting from the field and concentrated on stopping sophomore Hayley Hellyer and freshman Kendra Ross.
Hellyer, who was averaging 19 points per game, scored 14 points but she was only 4-for-17 from the field and got few uncontested shots. Ross was 6-for-10 from the field and had 17 points, six rebounds and four assists.
Few offensive threats for Boyle
"That was the worst offensive game Hayley has had," Mason said. "Casey did a good job on both her and Kendra. I keep telling them the good Lord gave them two hands. They have to use their left hand more, and they can. They just get tunnel vision in a game and go one way. Both can handle the ball. The problem is we expect so much from them."
That's because other than center Tori Alcorn, who had eight points and eight rebounds, Boyle had no offensive threats. Hellyer, Ross and Alcorn combined for 32 of Boyle's 37 shots.
"We've got to have somebody else step up," Mason said.
"We are young and sometimes our young players just watch those three play. If we can just get them to understand they can get us eight to 10 points per game by just rebounding."
Casey had a far more balanced attack. Hatter hurt her ankle last week but still came off the bench to score 10 points on 4-for-10 shooting from the field. Seven other players also scored and three of them - Demi Murphy, Kara Weddle and Natalie Wesley - all had six points.
Casey also was 6-for-20 from 3-point range as Wesley and Murphy both made two treys. Overall, Casey was just 15-for-43 from the field.
"It was just kind of a sloppy game," Salyers said. "We didn't move very well. We weren't strong with the ball. We didn't make hard cuts. We just kind of floated around, which we have a tendency to do. Fortunately, we hit some 3's, got the lead and kept it even though I thought we got just a little complacent at the end. But give Boyle's defense credit for part of that. They didn't let us do a lot of things we wanted to do."
Ross had nine of Boyle's 11 points in the first quarter and her follow basket along with Hellyer's only 3-point goal gave Boyle a 16-12 lead early in period two. Casey got two 3-pointers from Wesley and one from Tara Weddle to build a 25-21 halftime lead and pushed the margin to 32-23 with a 7-0 spurt that included a 3-pointer by McFarland.
Both teams had trouble scoring in the fourth quarter and had only two field goals each. Boyle trimmed the deficit to 36-33 with 3:45 left before Megan Pittman scored on a follow shot for Casey. Hellyer's two free throws with 1:01 left reduced the lead to 40-37 before McFarland followed with her two free throws.
Boyle outrebounded Casey 33-27, but had 16 turnovers to 12 for Casey. The winners were only 7-for-13 at the foul line while Boyle was 11-for-20.
"Both teams played a lot of games last week and just didn't look mentally sharp," Salyers said. "I know we both can play a lot better but the good news is that we did get the win."
CASEY (9-5) - Lauren Hatter 10, Natalie Wesley 6, Demi Murphy 6, Kara Weddle 6, Tara Weddle 5, Kayla McFarland 5, Courtney Laman 3, Megan Pittman 2.
BOYLE (5-8) - Kendra Ross 17, Hayley Hellyer 14, Tori Alcorn 8.
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