By Audrey Dodgen/Staff Writer

The El Reno High School girls basketball team was propelled to a 19-point win by a pair of 15-point performances Tuesday.

Senior Jaclyn Rhoades and freshman Britney Nuzum each scored in double digits to lead the Indians in the match.

“I’m feeling a lot more confident and comfortable. I know that I’m improving in offense, and I’m more aggressive in taking the ball to the hole,” Nuzum said.

Rhoades said having a young leader on the floor benefits the whole team.

“A lot of people look up to her. She sets an example, and for her to step up play like that, I’m really proud of her. She didn’t play like someone who was new. She played like someone who had been doing it for four years,” Rhoades said.

“She works as hard or harder than anyone in that gym.”

The Indians struggled early, trading buckets with the Western Heights squad in the first quarter.

“Sometimes you play down to the level of your competition, and that happened to us a little tonight,” Rhoades said.

Freshman Kristin Horse tossed in seven points in the win, followed by junior Heather Horse with six.

Aubrey Blackwolf scored three points, and Ashlee Brittain, Kynzi Bollinger and Victoria Farmer all scored two. Megan Martin contributed one point.

“I thought Britney played pretty well tonight. She’s had some games where she played well, and she’s really improving. She handled the ball, took care of it, made some shots and got to the free throw line, which is key for her because she is so good from the line,” head coach Eric Carr said.

“She needs to continue to get stronger going to the hoop.”

Carr said Nuzum’s recent aggressiveness will improve her confidence.

“She’s had two games like this, and hopefully she can continue to do it. It’s good to see the young kids play well, and she should get a lot from this game,” he said.

Carr said overall his team lacked defensive focus and intensity during the game.

“Defensively, I’m not very pleased. It’s not where it needs to be. We’ve really struggled a bit in the past two games. We struggled all night. We didn’t press as much because their guard was so quick and we knew she’d dribble right through us. Basically, it was a really slow game and it was hard to get into a good rhythm becuase it was so slow,” he said.