First big Camden showdown goes to Tracy-M-B

The score found Minneota trailing, 49-45 — then Morgan Kockelman calmly threw up a three-pointer and it suddenly was a one-point game.
It also put the clamps on a seven-point run Tracy-Milroy-Balaton used to build an eight-point margin.
Later, with 2:04 left in the game and Minneota down 72-55 — Kockelman did it again ... draing a long three-pointer.
But in the end, her efforts weren’t enough and a calmer, “more structured” Panther squad, as Coach Chad Johnston said, held on to defeat Minneota, 67-60.
“We need to be more disciplined. The more disciplined team always wins,” the coach said.
While the Kockelman-led Vikings  kept coming back from as much as a 10-point deficit (48-38) — they just didn’t have enough left in the tank and simply ran out of gas down the stretch.
“We’ve got to work on our late-game situations,” said Coach Johnston.
The Vikings had a chance but three times late in the game, trailing by just three points, they got big rebounds (twice from Morgan Hennen), then immediately threw the ball away.
Oh, Minneota had the will. Abby Hennen kept the Vikings driving toward the basket and she put in 12 points with five rebounds.
And Morgan Hennen tossed in 10 points with four rebounds.
But underneath, it was a real battle between the Vikings Lydia Sussner and the tall, physical Panthers led by Sydney Lanoue and Evie Dolan.
Sussner got 11 points — but rebounding was tougher. The Vikings were out-rebounded 28-24 and Sussner was held to six.
“We were worried about their inside (game),” the coach said. And it was the inside that caused problems for the Vikings all night. Dolan scored 15 points and Lanoue 10.
But it was the outside shooting and quickness of Kaylee Kirk that did them in. She scored 20 points, including two from three-point range. Kirk also had five steals and at the end was the disruptive factor as the Vikings tried to catch up.
“We though the half-court game was our strong suite. But Tracy played well and was in our face — and we weren’t disciplined,” the coach said.
“There are a lot of little things we’ve got to get better at,” Coach Johnston said.