ROCHESTER MAYO 65, ALBERT LEA 31
It seems my car has been pointed down US 52 every other date. During the last seven out & abouts it has been the road of choice four times. Twice in that quartet of journeys Rochester Mayo has been charted. Monday night’s game vs Albert Lea was originally scheduled for Tuesday. But with a shortage of referees plaguing the sport, the game was moved to Monday. This was the largest school (Albert Lea) open that I have not charted, and so it was a look south once again. Albert Lea started the year 4-1. Tonight, the Tigers (not the LSU or Clemson variety. Headline: Tigers Lose Tigers win and Tigers Lose) took it on the chin for the fifth straight time, and in running time to boot. Mayo’s year is almost a flip of AL’s. The Spartans started off the season 1-3, but tonight was their fifth win in a row.
At the start of this game it appeared that AL was going to strike gold. They did strike for two 3s on their first two possessions—the first by Annika Veldman, the next by Sam Skarstad. The last AL lead came on the Tigers’ sixth possession (8-6). After that the host Spartans rang up a 59-23 advantage. The last three minutes of the first half Mayo surged with an 11-2 scoring advantage to lead at the break 40-23.
AL relied on long distance sniping. They won that battle 5-2. But Mayo dominated the 2FG count 27-6. Nancy Soro had as many two pointers as the entire AL team. Mayo knocked down 61% of their 2 shots. That is because the shots were located about an arm’s length to the hoop. Both Soro and Anna Miller shot over 80% from the floor. Miller picked up fouls and was limited in playing time, but the Spartans picked up the slack. Miller, the front defender in the Mayo press creates issues for opponents with her length. However, Mayo only won the turnover battle by two. It was the boards that provided Mayo with their best margin with ten.
If players played the entire game Miller would have had scored 29.5 points, Mullk Hammadelniel would have had 25.74.
Old Man Winter reared his head on the way home. The roads were miserable from Mayo to Cannon Falls. What usually was a 1:33 trip took 2:15.
Mayo moves to 10-4 on the year, 8-3 in the Big Nine, currently fourth place. AL is 5-8 on the year; 5-6 in the Big Nine.
| ROCHESTER MAYO | ALBERT LEA | |
| POINTS | 65 | 31 |
| REBOUNDS/OFF | 38/13 | 28/11 |
| TURNOVERS | 23 | 25 |
| 2FGA/% | 44/61.36 | 28/21.42 |
| 3FGA/% | 11/18.18 | 21/23.80 |
| FTA/% | 7/71.42 | 7/57.14 |
| PP100 | 95.6 | 46.3 |
| TOP SCORER | Anna Miller 15 | Two with 11 |
TRENCH PLAYER: This could have been spread to many Mayo. It goes to Mulik Hammadelniel off the bench with 11 points, 157.1 pp100 (highest of the night), 30 touches with no turnovers and a 14 in the 31 Club.