Girls on the move News Charlotte Bobcats

EPWORTH, Iowa - Red means go. When you wear the black and red of the Western Dubuque girls Basketball team, you don't stand around much. The hyperactive Bobcats are usually on the move as if they're trying to get a two-hour workout into a 32-minute Basketball game.

For Western Dubuque, old-school, Princeton-esque possession Basketball is about as much fun as listening to your dad talk about the way things were back in the day. "We don't like to take it slow," said Bobcats senior guard Amber Pitz, one of the team's lead greyhounds. "Slow-paced games are boring. Fast-paced games are a lot more fun." Western Dubuque used motion-heavy pressure zone, stellar defensive rebounding and a big-time game by Pitz to cut down Dubuque Hempstead, 56-37, Friday night. Pitz produced 22 points, including three 3-pointers, four rebounds, two steals and just one turnover as the Bobcats (1-2) scored their first victory of the young season. Former coach Casey Bryant has moved on to the less stressful job of team scorekeeper, but the Bobcats are very much the same aggressive team under first-year coach Amy Ostwinkle. "We're a pressure team," Pitz said. "Coach kept saying, 'Crash the boards, crash the boards,'" said senior guard April Davidshofer. Western Dubuque crashed the boards Friday to the tune of 38 rebounds, including 21 defensive boards. Junior guard Ali Daly had nine points, 10 rebounds, five assists and four steals in a terrific all-around performance. Junior 6-foot-2 center Lauren Lewey had seven boards and four blocks. Davidshofer turned in 11 points and six rebounds. Hempstead (1-1) entered the game riding the high of Tuesday's breakthrough 52-42 victory over Clinton that snapped a 25-game losing streak. But the Mustangs were flat in their followup. Hempstead shot a sub-freezing 22 percent (13-for-57) and went 2-for-19 from the floor in the third quarter. The Mustangs hit just 5 of 34 shots in the second half. Stephanie Remakel's nine points and Lisa Kunde's eight paced the sluggish Hempstead offense. "Western Dubuque executed. We didn't," Mustangs coach Everette Locklear said. "We just didn't knock down shots tonight." But the Mustangs have been energized by Tuesday's streak stopper, which went a long way toward putting last year's 0-22 season in the rearview mirror. "It was huge. It was big for our school. It was big for our community," Locklear said. "They don't know what they did. "We have a lot more talent this year, but we're still a young team. There are going to be ups and downs. "The whole focus over the summer was, 'Kill the streak.' The streak's over. Now we've got to find a way to get through (and succeed in) the (Mississippi Valley) conference."