It slipped away

Talk about rusty. You could almost see the rust falling off a layer at a time.
Assistant Coach Dale Kockelman said, “Right now we’re not a very good team.”
Minneota held a 40-33 lead late in the game — got sloppy and let Springfield rally for a 44-41 win in the Borch’s Holiday Classic at SMSU in Marshall.
“Last night, I couldn’t sleep — and why? Because of girls’ basketball. And today I get this. I guess I’m tired and cranky,” said Coach Chad Johnston.
Minneota, a team that was 5-2 with the only losses to state-ranked Hayfield and conference titan Tracy-Milroy-Balaton, hardly played like a contending team.
Springfield came into the game with a 2-6 record — yet, found a way against the Vikings.
After a miserable first half in which the Vikings didn’t seem to have the extra gear the coaching staff has instilled in them, the game was tied at 26.
If it hadn’t been for Lydia Sussner’s 11 points, five on free throws, it could have been worse.
“We’re just not getting up the floor. They do it in practice but not in the game,” said Coach Kockelman.
Coach Johnston agreed. “We were forced to play defense. We’d held them to seven points in the second half then they figured out what we were doing and went after us.”
Abby Hennen’s four, three-pointers held the Vikings in the game — but it was a three-pointer by Springfield’s Brandi Platz that broke their back and brought the Tigers within 41-40. A steal by Cassie Graff and bucket by Arynzi Rabb gave the Tigers the lead and Sydney Haugers two free throws with 2.8 seconds to go sealed the win.
Morgan Kockelman got off a final shot, but it wasn’t close and Springfield had a successful comeback win.
“We missed so many point blank shots,” said Coach Johnston. Sussner was shut out in the second half, although she did grab 12 rebounds. And Lizzy Gillingham missed several “under the bucket” shots and ended with just four points.
“Missing those shots made a big difference in the ball game,” said Coach Johnston.
When the Vikings had a seven-point lead, the coach said, “We didn’t distance ourselves from them and they made their shots when they needed them.”
In the second half, Springfield went to a man-to-man defense and the coach said, “We should have abused them when they went to man-to-man, but we didn’t.”
Abby Hennen led the way with 12 points, Sussner had 11 and Morgan Hennen scored eight.
The Vikings were to play St. Clair at 4 p.m. on Thursday in the second game of the holiday tournament.

BUCKET NOTES:
•Minneota’s Lydia Sussner played the entire game and had been diagnosed with Bronchitis before the game and during the contest had some trouble catching her breath.
She was shut out in the second half.
•This was the Vikings first game in eight days. They last played Tracy-Milroy-Balaton on December 19.
•Abby Rost shot two free throws — other than that, Lydia Sussner had all the other Viking charity shots — hitting five of nine.
•Minneota is 5-3 after the loss to Springfield.

Springfield 44, Minneota 41
MINNEOTA (2’s, 3,s, FT, F, TP) Morgan Kockelman 0 1 0-0 3 3; Lizzy Gillingham 2 0 0-0 0 4; Morgan Hennen 4 0 0-0 0 8; Natalee Rolbiecki 1 0 0-0 0 2; Abby Hennen 0 4 0-0 3 3 12; Abby Rost 0 0 0-2 2 0; Lydia Sussner 3 0 5-9 2 11. Totals 10 5 5-11 10 41.
SPRINGFIELD (2’s, 3,s, FT, F, TP) Cassie Graff 1 0 0-0 2 2; Mikayla Parker 2 1 0-0 1 7; Anna Plotz 0 0 0-0 1 0; Brandi Platz 1 1 0-0 0 5; MacKenzie Lothert 0 0 0-0 2 0; Taylor Augustin 1 0 0-0 0 2; Sydney Hauger 3 3 7-8 1 21; Arynzi Rabb 3 0 0-0 2 6. Totals 10 5 7-8 9 44.
Score by Halves
Minneota              26    15 —  41
Springfield            26    18  — 44
Statistics:
SHOOTING: Minneota 15 of 52 for 29 percent; Springfield 15 of 38 for 39 percent.
FREE THROWS: MINNEOTA 5 of 9 for 56 percent; Springfield 7 of 8 for 88 percent.
REBOUNDS: Minneota 29 (Sussner 12, Rost, Abby Hennen, Gillingham 4 each; Rolbiecki 3; Kockelman 2); Springfield 25 (Raab 7; Hauger, Platz 5 each); Hauth, Lothert, Graff 2 each).
TURNOVERS: Minneota 15; Springfield 25.
STEALS: Minneota 13 (Abby Hennen 4; Gillingham, Sussner 3 each; Morgan Hennen 2; Rolbiecki 1); Springfield 5 (Graff 3, Hauger 2).
BLOCKS: Minneota none; Springfield (Hauth).