The Austin girls hockey team righted itself on the road Tuesday, but not before Albert Lea gave the Packers a scare.

Wednesday, December 01, 1999

The Austin girls hockey team righted itself on the road Tuesday, but not before Albert Lea gave the Packers a scare.

Austin, which was outscored 16-0 in two losses in the holiday Farmington Tournament, fell behind 2-1 early in the second period to the Tigers, who have never beaten Austin in girls hockey.

"They were hungry for us," Austin coach Denny Bray said. "There were a lot of people in the stands supporting them."

Austin (2-3) fought back with four unanswered goals, three in the second period by Jessica Peterson, Bobee Jo Lang and Courtney Hughes. Peterson picked up her second goal of the game in the third period.

Lang’s go-ahead goal came off a perfectly executed give-and-go pass from Rhianna Jacobs, who scored the Packers’ first goal in the first period.

"We’ve been working on the give-and-go in practice," Bray said. "It was a pretty goal."

Bray said his club was "very aggressive" against Albert Lea.

"We were beating them to the puck and passing the puck well," he said.

Austin now faces John Marshall on Thursday at Riverside Arena in the Packers’ first home game of the season.

Girls basketball

Waseca 53, Austin 42

The Austin girls basketball team betrayed itself in its season opener by committing 17 first-half turnovers.

"That’s what killed us," Coach Sloan Suess said. "It boiled down to sloppy passing."

Austin – with no player taller than 5 feet, 8 inches – is employing a get-out-and-run style of play this season. But "we forced a lot of stuff in the first half," Suess said.

Austin trailed 30-21 at the break.

The Packers, who took care of the ball with just five second-half turnovers, closed to within 35-32 after three, but got no closer than that.

Austin led 11-9 after the first quarter, which saw Jamie Nieland score eight of her team-high 10 points.

Lauren Feller added nine points and a team high six boards in the post. She limited her 6-1 foe to 10 points.

Sara Turvey scored seven and Gina Golberg six for Austin.

Austin faces Mayo Friday at Packer Gym.