Cold-shooting Vikes escape BBE
It was one of those days when nothing seem to fall through the net, causing Minneota Coach Chad Johnston to say, “What do you do when you can’t hits shots?”
The undefeated Vikings (10-0) did the best they could, hanging on to a 45-44 win over Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa Tuesday in the Borsch’s Holiday Classic at SMSU in Marshall.
They hit just 15 of 59 shots — an incredibly low 28 percent — and especially low when you still won the game.
A second quarter press by the Vikings pulled them into a 24-12 lead — but Coach Johnston had to call the press off until late in the game. “Definitely, the press did create some things in the first half, but our girls were so tired. We had to call it off,” said the coach.
Both Morgan and Abby Hennen kept trying to drive to the basket — but BBE’s Alicia Knight blocked them four times and caused the Hennen girls to take unorthodox shots at the basket.
When you can’t make a shot, what are you going to do,” said Coach Johnston.
“We talked about it after the game. Sometimes the shots are just not going to fall. About all you can do is box out your opponents and play defensively.”
He found it ironic because Minneota, “Has been shooting well.”
In the second half the Vikings had a 38-33 lead, but BBE kept pecking away with their big gals, Knight and Karisa Jones scoring and playing solid defense under the basket.
With 2:59 to go, Minneota led 39-39 — then Jones scored and BBE was up 40-39.
Coach Johnston asked his team to throw the press on one more, they got the ball back and the Vikings found Jeren Rost open for a bucket and 43-42 lead with 28 seconds to go,
BBE got a shot at the basket but Abby Hennen rebounded and Jacqueline Gossen fouled out with her fifth foul with 15 seconds to go.
Hennen sank both free throws for a three-point lead, and Minneota led Grace Illies scored and the game ended — with Minneota up by one.
“Our bench just wasn’t giving us much. They had a poor B squad game and we weren’t able to use them much. It’s hard to press on a college court when you’re only playing five girls,” said Coach Johnston.
Minneota missed several “open layups” and BBE did the job rebounding — tightening up in the late stages.
With Abby Hennen scoring just 12 and Morgan Hennen six, others had to pick up the slack. Natalee Rolbiecki scored 11 points and Abby Rost nine, but the buckets were few and far between.
Reserve McKenna Yost hit the team’s only three-pointer as the coach said, “The three-pointers were non-existent.”
He also felt BBE did a, “Nice job of kicking the ball out and finding the open people. Only Jones hit in double figures with 10 but they sank five three-pointers and 11 of 16 from the free throw line.
MINNEOTA (2’s, 3’s, FT, F, TP) Abby Hennen 4 0 4-4 1 12; Morgan Hennen 2 0 2-4 3 6; Natalee Rolbiecki 3-6 0 11; Jeren Rost 2 0 0-0 4 4; Abby Rost 3 0 3-6 1 9; Kennedi Jurrens 0 0 0-0 0 0; Mckenzie Told 0 0 0-0 1 0; McKenna Yost 0 1 0-0 0 3; Ireland Stassen 0 0 0-0 2 0. Totals 16 1 12-20 12 45.
BBE (2’s, 3’s, FT, F, TP) Jacqueline Gossen 0 1 0-0 5 3; Grace Illies 1 0 6-9 3 8; Jenna Dingmann 0 2 2-2 2 8; Alisa Knight 3 0 2-2 2 8; Josie Knutson 0 2 0-0 3 6; Karsee Kampsen 0 0 0-1 1 1; Karisa Jones 5 0 0-1 2 10; Abby Berge 0 0 0-0 0 0; Liz French 0 0 0-0 1 0. Totals 9 5 11-16 19 44.
Score by Halves:
BBE 16 28 — 44
Minneota 24 21 — 45
Statistics:
SHOOTING: Minneota 16 of 59 for 28 percent; BBE 14 of 41 for 34 percent.
FREE THROWS: Minneota 12 of 20 for 60 percent; BBE 11 of 16 for 69 percent.
REBOUNDS: Minneota 37 (Abby Rost 10, Abby Hennen and Morgan Hennen 7 each; Jeren Rost 6, Rolbiecki 5, Stassen 2); BBE 23 (Illies 6; Knight, Jones 5 each, Lindsay, Dingmann, Berge 2 each, French 1).
TURNOVERS: Minneota 19; BBE 20.
STEALS: Minneota 8 (Abby Hennen 3, Rolbiecki 2, Morgan Hennen, Jeren Rost, Yost 1 each); BBE 3 (Dingmann, Kampsen, Jones 1 each).
BLOCKS: Minneota 1 (Morgan Hennen); BBE 6 (Knight 4, Illies, Jones 1 each).
B SQUAD: BBE 39, Minneota 25