Webster City girls’ basketball coach Nicole Muhlenbruch got the chance to see how her group answered that challenge in a North Central Conference battle with Humboldt Tuesday night.

The Lynx found it difficult to find the bottom of the bucket within their offense, but they were solid at the free throw line and picked it up defensively to take care of the Wildcats, 42-31.

“Some people might look at it and think it wasn’t a pretty win, but we had a heck of a time getting buckets,” Muhlenbruch said. “Our shots would go in and swirl around and then come back out. It was just one of those nights, but I thought it was our game. It was our tempo, our style of game.”

WCHS (7-13, 5-8 NCC) won its second game in as many nights and third in its last four outings. Muhlenbruch likes how the team is trending up with the postseason set to begin next week and she’s looking forward to being able to get back to a normal practice schedule.

Zoey Woodle (left) stops Humboldt’s Mady Lange as Kelly Stoakes (right) races in to force a jump ball during Webster City’s win. DFJ photo/Tracy Runneberg

“We just need some normalcy,” she said. “We haven’t had a normal week for a while now and it will be nice to settle down. We just need to get back to some normal things.”

Taylor McKinney scored a game-high 23 points against Humboldt (4-16, 1-13 NCC), 10 of which came in the fourth quarter. With the Wildcats looking to extend the game, they were forced to foul the WCHS junior and she calmly buried 7 of 8 free throws down the stretch.

McKinney pushed her career scoring total to 949 points, leaving her 51 shy of becoming the first WCHS player (5-on-5) to reach 1,000. It’s possible she could still reach that mark this season.

The Lynx shot 12 of 16 overall at the charity stripe. Grace Hoversten was perfect in four attempts, and the junior added 12 rebounds and five assists.

“All of the girls really did shoot their free throws well,” Muhlenbruch said.

DFJ photo/Tracy Runneberg

WCHS shot just 33 percent from the floor.

Kelly Stoakes drained two of the Lynx six 3-pointers; McKinney had the other four. Adalie Schwandt added four points.

Mady Lange paced Humboldt with 14 points, 11 of which came in the first half.

WCHS led 11-9 after one quarter and 17-15 at halftime. The Lynx slowly pulled away after the intermission.

WCHS will close out the regular season on its home floor against South Hamilton this evening. The tripleheader will begin with a freshman game at 4:30 p.m. The junior varsity is slated for 6 p.m., with the varsity tip-off scheduled for 7:30 p.m.

Webster City 42, Humboldt 31

Tuesday at Webster City

Humboldt (4-16, 1-13 NCC) — Jori Hajek 1 2-2 4, Bae Arnold 0 0-0 0, Mady Lange 6 2-4 14, Jayda Hoefer 2 0-0 6, Lily Groat 0 0-2 0, Kendal Clark 2 1-1 5, Quinn Mooney 0 0-0 0, Ashlyn Clark 1 0-2 2. Totals: 13 4-10 31.

Webster City (7-13, 5-8 NCC) — Tatum Goings 0 0-0 0, Taylor McKinney 6 7-8 23, Atlanta Hopp 0 0-0 0, Zoey Woodle 1 0-0 2, Jenna Miller 1 1-2 3, Leah Kasch 0 0-0 0, Kelly Stoakes 2 0-0 6, Grace Hoversten 0 4-4 4, Adalie Schwandt 2 0-2 4. Totals: 12 12-16 42.

Humboldt 9 6 7 9 — 31

Webster City 11 6 12 13 — 42

3-point field goals — HUM 3 (Hoefer 2, Clark); WC 6 (McKinney 4, Stoakes 2). Rebounds — WC 26 (Hoversten 12, Miller 4). Steals — WC 8 (McKinney 4). Assists — WC 10 (Hoversten 5). Turnovers — WC 14. Team fouls — HUM 15, WC 12. Fouled out — HUM: Clark.