Baldwin ? Baldwin High senior Jodie Bacon wanted to make sure her final home game wouldn’t be decided in the final minutes.

“We really wanted to come out and get a good start and keep the intensity up,” Bacon said following the Bulldogs’ 70-41 first-round Class 4A sub-state girls basketball victory over Eudora on Monday night at the BHS gym.

Baldwin's Casey Millstein (34) and Eudora's Lauren Kracl reach for a rebound. The Bulldogs shut down the Cardinals, 70-41, during their first-round sub-state game Monday night in Baldwin.

Bacon, who will play at Sterling College next season, knows that a close contest could be inevitable if the Bulldogs meet Frontier League champion Spring Hill, a team that handed Baldwin two of its three losses this season, in the sub-state final.

The Bulldogs (18-3) will face Kansas City Ward a 50-28 winner over DeSoto on Thursday night at Mill Valley High.

Baldwin’s full-court press worked like magic on Monday as the Bulldogs scored seven unanswered points within 30 seconds to break a 4-4 tie, and Eudora (6-15) never recovered.

BHS coach Eric Toot implemented a full-court press after the winter vacation and it has helped the Bulldogs score easy points ever since.

“I wanted to make sure that we were solid in the half-court defense,” Toot said. “But we have a lot of athletic girls and it (the press) keeps the tempo up.”

Both teams were led by their sophomore centers in the first half. Baldwin’s Emily Brown scored a game-high 19 points including a rare four-point play while Eudora’s Lauren Kracl scored 16 of the Cardinals’ 22 first-half points.

Kracl, who never left the game, finished with 18 points, 11 rebounds, seven blocks and six assists. EHS junior Jenny Durkin came off the bench to score seven points for the Cards.

“She (Kracl) is one of the best players in our league,” Toot said. “We match up well with her and we made sure we knew where she was.”

In the second half, BHS senior Casey Millstein scored 10 points and grabbed five rebounds, showing some impressive moves in the paint.

The Bulldogs also made six three-pointers, including one apiece from reserves Kari Garrison, Katie Martin, Kayla Pringle and Erica Johnson.

EHS coach Gretchen Schreiner said her team made progress throughout the season despite its win-loss record. The loss was Eudora’s third to the Bulldogs this season.

“I think it was the best we played against them,” Schreiner said. “I think we’ve reached a lot of our goals. Our confidence level rose and we were playing together better.”