CUBA CITY — For just the fifth time this season, a squad scored more than 50 points against No. 7-ranked Cuba City (13-4, 9-0 SWAL). Unfortunately for Darlington, it didn’t translate to a win (13-5, 7-2) fell 66-58 on Thursday, Jan. 25.

“Cuba City is a very good team,” Darlington head coach Brad Solberg said. “We knew that they would go on runs but also thought we could go on our own runs. The goal was to limit their runs to six points or less.”

Nearly a minute of play passed until Olivia Olson (29 pts, 9 reb, 7 ast) sank the opening points with a catch-and-release jumper on an inbounds pass at the left wing with Jaidyn Evenstad (7 pts, 4 reb, 3 ast) defending.

Dea Crist (6 pts, 6 reb) came down with a defensive rebound a few scoreless possessions later, shooting a transition pass to Olson. The ensuing shot from Olson didn’t fall through the hoop, but Crist was there to rebound and put the ball up for a two in the paint.

Sadie Goebel (24 pts, 2 reb, 2 ast) inbounded the ball to Maddie Gratz (12 pts, 6 reb, 3 ast), who turned and sprinted down the court. As she got to the right wing, Crist and Ashley Rowe (18 pts, 3 ast) ran to meet Gratz, who popped the ball back to Goebel. Goebel released a pass as quick she got it to Evenstad at the left wing, and a 3-point jumper put the Redbirds on the board with 3:30 knocked off the clock.

The Cuban response was a pair of twos — one from Crist and the other a fast break layup from Rowe following a Crist steal. 

A three from Olson at 12:30 signaled a timeout from Darlington to cap a 12-3 run from Cuba City to start the game.

The Redbirds came out from the stoppage ready to run, and Goebel put up a turnaround jumper at the elbow to creep closer.

“Darlington came out ready to play,” Cuban head coach Jason Derby said. “We struggled on the defensive end the entire game, so credit to them there.”

Darlington took a charge from Crist to take possession, and Goebel took advantage with an open three.

Olson got Cuba City back on the board with a layup, and Niasia Niedziejko (3 pts, 4 reb) put up a pair of shots at the charity stripe to keep pace.

Another foul put the ball in the Redbirds’ hands, with Evenstad taking the inbound pass, and marching it to the hoop around Olson to bring the game to a 14-12 split favoring the Cubans.

Forty seconds and two 3-point misses from Cuba City later, Darlington earned its first lead of the game, as Goebel cranked out her second three of the half.

The squads traded buckets, but a 3-point blast from Rowe put the final lead swap of the night on the board with 7:30 to play in the first half.

With the exception of a pair of free throws from Lylah Norgard (4 pts), the Cubans held the Redbirds scoreless for just over six minutes. The break was long enough for Cuba City to push to a 36-19 advantage.

Goebel was responsible for all five of Darlington’s final points of the half — three came via free throws, while two came as she drove past Savannah Kreger (3 pts, 3 reb), Summer Rogers (2 pts, 6 reb), and Alexis Runde (2 pts, 3 reb).

The Redbirds sat at a 39-24 deficit at the half, but they wouldn’t be deterred.

“Out of the half, we knew we needed to stop their transition game,” Solberg said. “We weren’t getting back and getting our defense set. We allowed too many easy baskets in the first half. This slowed them down a bit in the second half.”

It took almost the first nine minutes of the second half, but Darlington went on an 18-7 run that put them down by four points.

“Goebel went off on us from deep with five threes, but Rowe did a nice job of guarding her when we switched our coverage on her in the second half,” Derby said.

Goebel, Aubrey McCarthy (7 pts, 11 reb), Gratz, and Evenstad all contributed to the run, with Goebel accounting for half of the points scored — all of them from three.

“We felt like pulling their bigs from the rim and opening up the hoop a little bit was to our advantage,” Solberg said. “We did a nice job of moving the ball and taking good shots.”

Then the Cubans locked down again, pulling ahead to a 58-42 lead at 7:37.

Had the Redbirds held Cuba City scoreless to the final buzzer, the game would’ve gone to overtime. However, Olson did what she’s done extremely well her entire career — score.

Olson scored all eight of the Cubans’ final points to ensure the win for Cuba City.

“Moving forward, we need to tighten up our rebounding and transition defense if we want to make a push down the stretch,” Solberg said.

The Redbirds rebounded the next day with a 66-33 win over Southwestern.