Unbeaten Vikings overcome slow start
Like getting into a vehicle that been sitting in frigid temperature, the Minneota girls took a little while for the engine to warm up.
In the end, however, the Vikings accelerated past Russell-Tyler-Ruthon and prevailed 60-46 on Saturday in Minneota.
For the second straight night, the Vikings (6-0) started out cold. This time, Russell-Tyler-Ruthton held a 10-9 after four minutes had elapsed before Minneota went on a 35-11 run for a 44-21 halftime lead.
"We gave up too many rebounds again early in the game," said Coach Chad Johnston. "It was an ugly first four minutes and then we played really well after that."
Abby Hennen, the team's scoring leader, drained four the Vikings' five 3-pointers en route to her game-high 20 points. Hennen, who sank 8 of 17 shots overall, also had five rebounds, five assists and two steals.
Natalee Rolbiecki cashed all six of her free-throw attempts and finished with 16 points to go along with two rebounds, two assists and two steals.
Abby Rost had a solid all-around game for the Vikings with a game-high 11 rebounds and four steals, while also scoring nine points and dishing out three assists.
Kennedi Jurrens, Jeren Rost and Ireland Stassen had four points each. McKenzie Tolk hit Minneota's other three-pointer.
RTR shot well over the first 10 minutes of the second half to whittle away at the deficit, but could get no closer than the final margin of 14 points.
"We didn't play all of last week and it showed a little bit this week," said Johnston, referring to the cold starts on consecutive nights of games."
Minneota 60, RTR 46
Halftime: Minneota 44, Canby 21
RUSSELL-TYLER-RUTHTON (total points) - Borresen 2, Carr 18, Christianson 11, Hesse 4, Muenchow 9, Wendland 2. Totals 18-57 6-12 46.
MINNEOTA (FG, FT, Pts) - Abby Hennen 8-17 0-1 20, Kennedi Jurrens 2-7 0-0 4, Natalee Rolbiecki 5-15 6-6 16, Abby Rost 4-8 1-2 9, Jeren Rost 2-2 0-0 4, Ireland Stassen 2-5 0-0 4, McKenzie Tolk 1-2 0-0 3, McKenna Yost 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 24-56 7-9 60.
3-pointers: RTR 4 (Carr 3, Christianson 1). Minneota 5 (A.Hennen 4, Tolk 1).
Rebounds: RTR 28 (Muenchow 8). Minneota 31 (A.Rost 11, Hennen 5, Jurrens 5, Stassen 5, Rolbiecki 2, Yost 2, J.Rost 1).
Assists: RTR not available. Minneota 13 (A.Hennen 5, A.Rost 3, Rolbiecki 2, Tolk 2, Yost 1).
Steals: RTR 8 (Carr 2). Minneota 16 (A.Rost 4, J.Rost 3, Hennen 2, Rolbiecki 2, Stassen 2, Tolk 2, Yost 1).
Turnovers: RTR 18, Minneota 17.