Tigers win regional opener

HOWARDS GROVE – The Howards Grove Tigers started slow but turned up the heat in the second half in their 50-35 victory over St. Mary Springs (Fond du Lac) here Tuesday night in Division 3 opening-round regional action.

Up next for the Tigers is a trip to Oostburg Thursday night, March 11 in what will be a marquee semifinal game. Second-seeded Oostburg (19-4) defeated No, 3-seeded Howards (19-4) twice in Central Lakeshore Conference girls basketball action. Game time is 7 p.m.

The winner advances to the finals Saturday against the Lomira-Winnebago Lutheran Academy (Fond du Lac) semifinal victor at Sheboygan North at 3:30 p.m. Lomira, the No. 1 seed, is ranked sixth in Division 3.

Howards and the sixth-seeded Lady Ledgers appeared to be playing with nerves in the first quarter. Both teams made several turnovers and the score at the end of the first was 9-6 Tigers.

Sophmore guard Alexis Lindstrom stepped up in the early part of the second quarter – scoring five straight points, including a beautiful behind-the-backboard shot that resulted in a three-point play.

“Alexis attacked the basket well and got easy baskets. As she has done all season, she shot well from the free-throw line (7 of 9),” said Tiger head coach Heidi Georgeff.

Howards shot a blistering 67 percent (8 of 12) in the first half but committed 17 turnovers.

St. Mary Springs came out strong in the second half – scoring 6 straight points and coming to within a point of the Tigers at 19-18.

The teams exchanged three- point baskets – one each by the Tigers’ Kasey Latham and Springs’ Amber Lisowe – with 5:29 left in the third quarter to bring the score to 22-21 Howards. This is when the Tigers stepped up and took control. Howards Grove went on a 12-2 run to close the quarter.

Latham hit a team-high six points in the third period and Lindstrom scored five of her game-high 15 points to spark the Tigers.

“I thought Kasey had a nice game. She played good defense and hit some big shots for us,” said Georgeff.

“She made good decisions. This is the kind of game I have been waiting for her to have,” said Georgeff.

The fourth quarter was all about free throws for the Tigers. Howards went 9 for 13 from the line to close the door on the Lady Ledgers.

“As a team, we got to the free- throw line more and we attacked the basket better than we have been which is something we need to do to be successful in the postseason,” added Georgeff.

Senior guard-forward Ali Benning had a double-double for the Tigers with 10 points and a team-high 11 rebounds. Benning also led in blocked shots with four to go with four assists and three steals.

Lindstrom paced the Tigers in assists with seven and steals, four. Steph Bergman contributed three steals.
Score by Quarters
St. Mary’s Springs……6 6 11 12 – 35
Howards Grove.……….9 10 15 16 – 50
St. Mary’s Springs scoring: Amber Lisowe 18, Megan Shea 7, Jenna Shea 5, Katie Chatterton 4, Katie Moses 1.
Howards Grove scoring: Alexis Lindstrom 15, Kasey Latham 11, Alison Benning 10, Steph Bergman 5, Brianna
Morgen 4, Emily Schuh 3, Karyssa Gallenberger 2.
Three-point goals: Lisowe 4, Shea 1, Shea 1, Latham 2, Schuh 1.
Field goals: Howards Grove 15-27, 56%. Free throws: St. Mary’s Springs 5-6, 83%; Howards Grove: 17-24, 71%.
Rebounds: Howards Grove 30. Turnov_e_rs_: _H_o_w_a_rd_s_ _G_ro_v_e_ 2_1_.__________