A hex in the second half? Whatever, MACA girls struggle

The away games on Friday and Monday were not kind to the MACA girls basketball team. The Tigers were dealt defeat by the Montevideo Thunder Hawks and the BOLD Warriors.

 

BOLD 74, Tigers 51

The score indicates it must have been a downbeat night for the MACA crew. In terms of the final score, it most definitely was. However, the Tigers executed quite well in first half play and owned a 33-31 lead at the halfway mark. 

I seem to recall the game versus Willmar going this way too. What happened after halftime? Was it a case of the opponent adjusting in certain ways? Whatever the explanation, the roof fell in. Versus BOLD we were outdone 43-18 in the second half. So the final horn sounded with the score 74-51. We came out of the game at 8-14, while BOLD sported 14-10 W/L numbers. 

The kmrs-kkok article talks about "a strong second half performance" by BOLD. But could MACA have kept its fortunes running at a higher level? 

Mari Ryberg was a major force for the host Warriors with her 21 points and four steals. The game was played at Olivia. Ryberg was joined by two of her mates in double figures: Lainey Braulick with 17 points and Abby Meyers with 13. This trio was followed by: Leslie Snow 8, Kenzie Visser 7, Lilly Dean 4, Anna Gardeen 2 and Caylee Webber 2. Braulick made two 3-pointers and Ryberg made one. 

Meyers and Visser topped rebounds with eight and five respectively. Dean and Braulick set the pace in assists with five and three respectively. Ryberg with her four steals was followed by Dean with two. Ryberg blocked a shot. 

Maddy Grove supplied lots of fuel for the erratic Tigers, scoring 21 points. We're erratic in terms of first half personality versus second. Unfortunate. Cate Kehoe fueled our attack further with 16 points. Four other Tigers put in points: Meredith Carrington 5, Sydney Dietz 4, Kaylee Harstad 3 and Brianna Marty 2. Three Tigers each made a 3-pointer: Carrington, Grove and Kehoe.

Montevideo 62, Tigers 49

The Tigers were up against state-ranked caliber on Friday. The challenge was to play the Thunder Hawks of Monte, ranked No. 10 in Minnesota AA. 

Wait a minute, can the following be true? The Tigers led at halftime 33-28. Oh my, there is more than a small pattern emerging here. C'mon Dale, get things figured out. Your team comes on strong for first half play and then something happens. A coach has got to get that figured out. I mean, the coach should get that figured out. It appears this is not an intermittent thing. Chronic? I guess so. 

So the T-Hawks took us to the woodshed in second half play. This was to the tune of 34-16. Must be very frustrating for the MACA fans to watch. I wouldn't want to be there in the second half. 

Are the opposing coaches just capable of making the second half adjustments? Is that it? Is conditioning a factor? That would be easy to solve, just have the coach be like Gene Hackman in "Hoosiers." Practice without scrimmaging? Remember that? 

With Monte we often see the "Koenen" name in a high-profile way. Avery did not disappoint Friday as she put in 25 points. There is more than one Epema on the roster. Tenley Epema scored 16 points while Teagan scored ten. Hailey Dirksen scored six points, Keely Foley three and Kassey Pauling two. Tenley found the range from 3-point land as she made four. Teagan made two as did Dirksen. 

On the MACA side of things, we saw Meredith Carrington lead the way with 16 points including a 3-pointer. Cate Kehoe was right behind with 15 and she also made a '3'. But it was Sydney Dietz making two 3's to lead in that department - her point total for the night was ten. 

Maddy Grove was quiet with her offense and scored six points, while Kaylee Harstad scored two.  

Well my goodness, the Tigers will have to go to work trying to stretch their good performances over two whole halves.

 

Boys: Tigers 84, Breckenridge 45

I caught a few seconds of the boys basketball game on YouTube last night (Monday). What a miracle to be able to watch these games as if they're "on TV!" I should pinch myself. 

I should also pinch myself regarding the outcome of the game. You see, when I was young, Breckenridge was a real nemesis for our Tigers. We had lots of uphill struggles vs. the green crew. We all learned to hate the color green. I recall a Breck coach with the last name of Lipp in those days. 

Today there's nothing uphill at all for our Tigers. We buried the Cowboys 84-45 at our home gym. 

Watching YouTube, it seemed the fan turnout was pretty low. Sometimes I think there are just too many games. The sports schedule gets so relentless, it's hard for all but the most ardent fans to follow. Seems too much really. I mean, when the band has a concert, it's an "event." It's nice but it's also a little too rare. Sports? We get saturated, it seems. 

So the Tigers blew the Cowboys right off the court on Monday. Another routine standout night for Jackson Loge: 25 points on 11 of 13 shooting. He collected seven rebounds. Cole Wente put in 14 points on six of eight shooting. Brandon Jergenson added 12 points and again, I hope the fans do not chant "let's go Brandon." Why do people do this? Thomas Tiernan had a point output of ten. 

We were 64 percent in our field goal shooting. My, the orange and black has 19-1 W/L numbers. Breck struggles with a 3-15 mark. If only success vs. Breck had been so routine in my young adult years. How long ago? Let's skip that.

- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com