Tigers’ second-half rally falls shy
HOWARDS GROVE – The Howards Grove Tigers stormed back in the second half but came up short, 56-53, against Laconia in a nonconference girls basketball game here Saturday night.
Howards, 2-1, outscored the Spartans 38-28 in the second half. The Tigers fell behind 28-15 at halftime after being outscored 16-5 in the second quarter. The home team was only 1-for-14 from the field in the period.
The Tigers had a chance to take the lead late in the game but turned the ball over. With less than a minute remaining, Laconia stole an inbounds pass and made a breakaway layup to go up three.
Howards’ Alexis Lindstrom attempted a three-point shot at the buzzer but it bounced off the rim.
Free-throw shooting proved crucial in the outcome. The Spartans were 19 of 26, including 14 of 18 in the second half, and Howards was only 9 of 19.
“Laconia is a very physical team. They have some size and I knew we would struggle to match that,” said Tiger head coach Heidi Georgeff.
“But I do feel like we did match that in the end. It took us a while but we played really tough down the stretch. I am pleased with my team.”
Senior guard-forward Ali Benning led the Tigers’ balanced attack with 18 points – 14 in the second half which sparked the rally. Steph Bergman tallied 10 of her 11 points in the final half. Howards had four players who scored in double figures.
“We started attacking their zone on the inside and we got some nice post passing between those two [Benning and Bergman],” said Heling about the second half.
Benning had a strong overall game as she also paced her team in rebounds with eight, assists, four and blocked shots, two. Lindstrom led in steals with five and Benning totaled four.
The Spartans’ top scorers were Anna Smit and Danica Dins with 18 apiece. They were a combined 16 of 22 at the foul line – Smit, 8 of 13 and Dins, 8 of 9.
JV GAME
Cold shooting and weak defensive rebounding hurt the Tigers in the junior varsity game as they fell from the unbeaten ranks, 28-18.
Karlie Fermanich and Hayley Rickmeier led Howards’ scoring with four points each. Rickmeier had a team-high three rebounds.
| GIRLS
| | |
| BASKETBALL
| | |
| LACONIA | 56 | |
| HOWARDS 53 | |
| GROVE | | |
Score by Quarters
Laconia………………..12 16 13 15 – 56
Howards Grove.….….10 5 21 17 – 53
Laconia scoring: Anna Smit 18, Brittany Scheberl 3, Holly Schneider 3, Danica Dins 18, Paige Smith 2, L. Birschbach
2, Breanna Batterman 10.
Howards Grove scoring: Ali Benning 18, Kasey Latham 11, Steph Bergman 11, Alexis Lindstrom 11, Karyssa
Gallenberger 2.
Three-point goals: Smit 2, Scheberl 1, Latham 2, Lindstrom 2, Benning 2.
Field goals: Howards Grove, 19-51, 37%. Free throws: Laconia 19-26, 73%; Howards Grove 9-19, 47%.
Rebounds: Howards Grove 30. Turnovers: ___________________________ Howards Grove 17.
