SATURDAY TWO-FER

I hit two games with a common theme—-60 points for the losing

team, highway 52 (which is what 94 used to be) as both Cannon Falls and Alex are on that main line, and the final commonality: Bertha, MN. CHOF with former coach Vernon Harms and Alex with coach Wendy Koehler  grew up in Bertha. The differences were the home team was successful in one comeback, and fell short in the other.

CHRIST’S HOUSEHOLD OF FAITH 65, CANNON FALLS 60

CHOF used their starting five balanced scoring to pick up a road win at Cannon Falls in a cross class clash. The key point in the game was when CF’s point guard Tatum Pickar picked up her second foul and went to the bench with 6:49 left in the first half. 40 seconds before CHOF took their first lead 12-11. By half CHOF led 29-21, a 17-10 finish. The Bombers would trail by ten most of the second half, with spurts.5  where they closed the gap to six, but they never could get the key stop to slice into the lead further. With 1:20 left CHOF led 61-50. With 8.3 seconds left, after a three by Kara Loeschke (63-60), the CF faithful was expecting a travel call that never came. After two free throws the final margin was set.

CHOF’s starter Austyn Otten went down with an injury with 4:23 left.

Otten and the Harms are grand daughters of former CHOF coach Vernon Harms.

This was my second time charting CF. In both games Tatum Pickar made the 31 Club.

CHOF is now 12-8; CF drops to 9-14

ALEXANDRIA 69, BECKER 60 OT

After that game it was off to the northwest for a pair of AAA teams I have not charted. I didn’t need to rush since the Breakdown event—the Winter Lakes Classic had games starting at 10 am and the game prior to the 6:30 start for the Alexandria/Becker game was delayed for overtime in the boys game.

That delay may have thrown off the home town Cardinals in the first half. #8AAA Alexandria overcame a 16 point half time deficit and survived an upset bid by Becker, but it took an extra four minutes. This was a tale of two halves with the youthful Bulldogs started three freshman guards and they shot like it was their home court. They built up a 36-20 half time lead. Julia Bengston and Courtney Nuest combined for 25 of those Becker points with a combined 5/9 conversion rate behind the arc. Becker was golden with the ball too with 44 touches per turnover. With 1:51 left in the half Becker called time out with the express purpose of winding down the clock for the last attempt of the half. They did not get the desired points.

The momentum may have seeped away from them during that sequence. It took them over five minutes to score their first points in the second half. The Cardinals scored the first seven points of the half by that time and the game was within reach again. The 3s that rained down for Becker in the first half dried up in the second with only one finding the mark. But the veteran Cards cranked up the heat on defense and the youngsters wilted. The 44 TPT mark plummeted to 13.2. Alex stole the ball 13 times in the second half & overtime leaving the Bulldogs befuddled. With 2:45 left Alex trailed by a dozen (54-42) when Kaye Paschka dropped a 3. A quick Alex time out set up the vice that would squeeze the lead out of Becker. In the next two and a half minutes Alex forced four turnovers of which resulted in nine points. A steal and lay up by Ella Grove tied the game at 54. It looked like Becker would escape with a win when Nuest scored on a put back to regain the lead 56-54, but Grove scored in the lane to knot the game up one more time in regulation. The defensive heat was still making the Bulldogs pant at the start of overtime. Three straight times they coughed up the ball. Courtney Gould scored the first four points for the Cards and she put them up for good at the 3:30 mark. Another three turnover stretch put Becker further and further away. They struggled against the full court press getting trapped in the deep corners. Alex also made good use of the free throw opportunities cashing in 21 times in 27 attempts. Becker only had 12 attempts all night. The taller Cards also made use of their height inside with 15 baskets in 24 chances. Becker was far behind with nine makes in 15 chances.

Alexandria moves to 18-3 on the year. Becker drops to 12-10.

I am now at 65.5 seeing all the AAA teams. It is now 91 with 9 left for the top 100.

 

Team	PP100	scorer	Distributor	D stops
CHOF	84.4	Lucia Harms 15	Lucia Harms 9	Amari Piepkorn 16
Cannon Falls	78.9	Tatum Pickar 16	Tatum Pickar 7	Kara Loeschke 13
Alexandria	90.8	Kaye Paschka 17	Emma Schmidt 8	Two with 10
Becker	80.0	Julia Bengston 18	Kirsten Fitzgerald 7	Julia Bengston 7

TRENCH PLAYER

GAME 1: 5-6 junior guard Luica Harms of CHOF

GAME 2: 5-6 junior guard Kaye Paschka of Alexandria