Gillingham's 25 helps shoot down Eagles
Lizzy Gillingham picked a good time to score a season-high 25 points.
The Minneota junior hit two, three-pointers and seven of 11 free throws to vault the No. 10 Minneota Vikings (17-3) past the No. 9-ranked Southwest Minnesota Christian Eagles (14-3) Thursday night in Minneota.
That was "Test No. 1" for the Vikings. Test No. 2 comes tonight when they take on the 18-1 Tracy-Milroy-Balaton Panthers at Tracy for a share in the Camden Conference South lead.
Gillingham got some help from her friends as Abby Hennen poured in 14 points, Morgan Hennen 10; Lydia Sussner nine and both Abby Rost and Morgan Kockelman had eight each.
The Vikings jumped out to a 16-5 lead but the team from Edgerton got within 20-16 before the Viking machine rolled into another gear.
They outscored Southwest 17-3 and eventually went on to a 21-point halftime bulge at 47-26.
In the second half the lead got to be as much as 30 points at 65-35.
Minneota held a HUGE margin on the boards, out-rebounding SWMC, 51-33. Sussner got 11 of those with Kockelman nine, Natalee Rolbiecki eight, Gillingham and Abby Hennen six each, Morgan Hennen five and Rost four. The biggest margin came on the defensive boards, where the Vikings held the Eagles to one shot on many occasions and out-rebounded them 38-18 of the Eagles shots.
Turnovers were also held to a minimum with Minneota issuing only 13 and SWMC 12.
Sussner led the Vikings with three steals with Rost and Morgan Hennen getting two each. The team had nine on the night.
Minneota hit 17 of 23 free throws for 74 percent while SWMC hit 10 of 14 for 71 percent.
Minneota 80, Southwest Minnesota Christian 48
MINNEOTA (2’s, 3’s, FT, F, TP) Alie DeVlaeminck 0 0 0-0 0 0; Lizzy Gillingham 6 2 7-11 1 25; Abby Hennen 5 1 1-2 3 14; Morgan Hennen 4 1 1-2 3 10; Carolyn Hoffmann 0 0 0-0 1 0; Morgan Kockelman 2 0 4-4 1 8; Mariah Muhl 1 1 0-0 0 2; Natalee Rolbiecki 2 0 0-0 2 2; Abby Rost 3 0 2-3 2 8; Lydia Sussner 4 0 1-1 2 9. Totals 27 3 17-23 15 80.
SWMC (2’s, 3’s, FT, F, TP) Brooklyn DeKam 3 1 5-7 5 14; Emily Nerem 2 1 3-3 4 10; Hannah Nerem 2 0 0-0 3 4; Jaclynn Prins 3 1 2-4 2 11; Sommer Schaap 1 1 0-0 2 5; Sydney Van Hulzen 1 0 0-0 1 2; Olivia Veldkamp 1 0 0-0 1 2; Holly Vis 0 0 0-0 1 0. Totals 1 4 10-14 19 48.
Score by Halves
SWMC 26 22 — 48
Minneota 47 33 — 80
Statistics:
SHOOTING: Minneota (2’s 27 of 60 for 45 percent; 3’s 3 of 11 for 27 percent; overall 30 of 71 for 42 percent); SWMC (2’s 13 of 54 for 24 percent; 3’s 4 of 16 for 25 percent; overall 17 of 70 for 24 percent).
FREE THROWS: Minneota 17 of 23 for 74 percent; SWMC 10 of 14 for 71 percent.
REBOUNDS: Minneota 51 (Sussner 11, Kockelman 9, Rolbiecki 8, Gillingham, A. Hennen 6 each; M. Hennen 5; Rost 4; Muhl 1); SWMC 27 (H. Nerem 9; Prins, Schaap, Van Hulzen 4 each; E. Nerem 3, DeKam 2).
TURNOVERS: Minneota 13; SWMC 12.
STEALS: Minneota 9 (Sussner 3, Rost, M. Hennen 2 each, Gillingham, Kockelman 1 each); SWMC 9 (E. Nerem 3; Veldkamp 2; DeKama, Prins, Schaap, Van Hulzen 1 each).
ASSISTS: Minneota 16 (Kockelman 6, Sussner 3, A. Hennen, M. Hennen, Rost 2 each, Gillingham 1); SWMC 4 (Van Hulzen 2, Prins, H. Nerem 1 each).
BLOCKS: Minneota 2 (Sussner, M. Hennen 1 each); SWMC 1 (DeKam).