Vikes blowout BOLD
Six Vikings were in double figures. They canned 12 three-pointers, shot 44 percent from three-point land and routed BOLD, 85-50 in the season opener.
Hardly your typical season lid-popper.
“Last year they beat us and they lost just one player,” said Coach Chad Johnston.
That may signal the fact the Vikings have a pretty good team.
“For a first game, we did a lot of good things,” said Assistant Coach Dale Kockelman.
The biggest surprise was the scoring output of Lizzy Gillingham. The junior popped in 21 points, including two-for-two from three-point range.
“Actually Lizzy is a very good shooter. She has a nice shot,” said Assistant Coach Kockeman.
“Last year she played behind Charlie Josephson and she didn’t get a huge chance to play,” said the assistant coach.
This time around, Gillingham led the way and grabbed nine rebounds in the process.
“She plays bigger than she is,” Kockelman said about Gillinngam’s 5-8 stature.
Minneota held the hot hand from the time they broke out to an 8-0 lead, then broke away from an 8-8 tie — outscoring BOLD 38-18 the rest of the first half.
Morgan Hennen was hot early, scoring 12 of her 13 points early in the game.
Then Morgan Kockelman and Natalee Rolbiecki took over as the Vikings scored five, three-pointers in the first half.
Ironically, of the six scorers in double figures, last year’s leading scorer was Lydia Sussner, with 22. “Maybe that’s good because other teams will see that and it may free Lydia a little more,”
said Coach Johnston.
The others in double figures were Kockelman with 13; Morgan Hennen with 13; Abby Hennen with four, three-pointers for 12 and Rolbiecki with 10.
For Coach Johnston, it was an erupt change from coaching the Class A State Championship football team to coaching the girls.
“I worried about that a little,” he said of the small amount of time he had to practice with the team as Kockelman handled the practices.
“I thought for sure I’d throw out a little football terminology,” the coach joked.
But he made the transition, and the team made it easy for him.
“They shot very, very well,” said the coach. How about 40 percent on opening night?
What seemed so positive for the Vikings was the way they played defense, shutting down a high-scoring tandem of Taylor Sagedahl and MacKenna Steffel. They got Steffel, a 5-11 forward in foul trouble with three fouls with 4:10 to go in the first half and getting her off the court, helped.
Sagedahl would score 15 and Steffel 13, but the team got little else.
While Sussner was held down under the basket, she did garner 15 rebounds to lead both teams.
“We’ve got a tough schedule and this is a team that beat us last year. But our expectations are high,” Coach Johnston said.
About the multitude of scoring, the coach said, “We have a lot of girls who are looking to score and a lot who can shoot the ball.”
BOLD tried throwing a press at the Vikings and the trio of Kockelman, Abby Hennen and Rolbiecki proved not only capable of breaking the press, but at ease with the pressure.
“They handled the press,” said Coach Johnston.
He paid his team the best compliment. “They all seem to be on the same page,” he said.
Minneota plays at Yellow Medicine East on Thursday and Friday hosts Hayfield, the state’s No. 3-ranked team. Hayfield plays Tracy-Milroy-Balaton Saturday.
Minneota 85, BOLD 50
MINNEOTA (FG-FT-F-TP) Lizzy Gillingham 5- 2 1-2 4 21; Abby Hennen 0 4-0-1 3 12; Morgan Hennen 3 2 1-22 13; Carolyn Hoffmann 0 0 0-0 0 0; Morgan Kockelman 2 2 1-3 2 13; Hidie Moorse 1 0 0-0 2 2; Mariah Muhl 0 1 0-0 2 3; Natalee Rolbiecki 2 1 3-5 2 10; Abby Rost 0 0 0-0 0 0; Lydia Sussner 4 0 3-6 2 11; Rachel Knutson 0 0 0-0 0 0; Katie Konold 0 0 0-0 0 0. Totals 20 12 9-19 19 85.
BOLD (FG-FT-F-TP) Haley Ackerson 0 0 1-2 0 1; Abby Sigurdson 1 0 1-1 2 3; Taylor Sagedahl 4 1 4-12 4 15; MacKenna Steffel 6 0 3-5 4 13; Morgan Schmitz 0 0 0-0 2 0; Shania Senkyr 0 0 0-0 0 0; Makayla Snow 3 1 0-1 1 9; Brenna Weis 1 0 1-2 2 3; Ashley Trongard 2 0 0-0 2 4. Totals 17 2 10-23 17 50.
Score by Halves
BOLD 26 24 — 50
Minneota 46 39 — 45
Statistics:
SHOOTING: (2’S, 3’S, all) Minneota-20-53 for 37.7 percent; 12-27 for 44 percent; 32 of 80 for 40 percent); BOLD (17-50 for 34 percent; 2 of 19 for 10.5 percent; 19 of 69 for 27.5 percent).
FREE THROWS: Minneota 9-19 for 47 percent; BOLD 10 of 23 for 43 percent.
REBOUNDS: Minneota 55 (Sussner 15, Morgan Hennen 10; Gillinham 9; Abby Hennen 6; Rolbiecki, Rost 4 each; Kockelman, Moorse 2 each; Muhl 3); BOLD 29 (Sagedahl, Sbow 5 each, Wiess, Steffel 5 each, Trongard 3, Schmitz 2, Ackerson, Sigurdson 1 each).
TURNOVERS: Minneota 21, BOLD 18.
STEALS: Minneota 13 (Sussner 4, Rost, Rolbiecki, A. Hennen 2 each; M. Hennen, Kockelman, Muhl 1 each). BOLD 12 (Wies 4, Steffel 6, Sagedahl, Schmitz 1 each).
ASSISTS: Minneota 9 (A. Hennen 5, M. Hennen 2, Muhl, Sussner 1 each). BOLD 4 (Weiss 2, Throngard, Sagedahl 1 each).
BLOCKS: Minneota 1 (A. Hennen); BOLD 1 (Weis).
B SQUAD: Minneota 54, BOLD 26.