LYLE — The Lyle/Pacelli girls team sports co-operative basketball season started the same way its volleyball season ended – with a loss to the Alden-Conger Knights.

Wednesday, December 01, 1999

LYLE — The Lyle/Pacelli girls team sports co-operative basketball season started the same way its volleyball season ended – with a loss to the Alden-Conger Knights. A big, strong, experienced team from Alden came into Lion Country and dominated the boards on its way to a 50-40 win.

Joni Sheedy scored the initial L/P bucket of the season to put the Lions up 2-0. L/P, however, then played from behind the rest of the night. When they got close the Knights stepped up their game a notch and grabbed the key rebound or altered the L/P shot just enough to make the Lions miss.

In the first half, both teams had trouble making their shots and the Knights went up 13-6. At the break it was 21-16. The Knights were led by Hollie Krueger with four points in each of the first two quarters. Tammy May was the only one with a hot hand for the Lions. She hit three short jumpers in the half.

Sheedy scored the first three points of the second half to bring the Lions to within two, but then nothing fell for them over the next six minutes and the Knights went on a 15-0 run to pull out to a 36-21 lead.

"We did some good things tonight, but we also fell asleep a couple of times and that was the case there," L/P coach Steve Baumann said. "We had some trouble on defense not covering our area. On offense we had a tough time against their person-to-person defense."

"We were in man from the start," Alden-Conger coach David Bosma said. "This year I’m teaching the girls how to play man and that makes the other team show if they have the offensive skills to beat it."

Jenna Baumann stopped the Alden splurge with a 15-footer at the close of the third quarter. Alden then scored the first three points of the fourth to build their biggest lead of the game, 18 points, taking a 39-21 lead. The Lions then started to press to get themselves back into the game. They got to within eight with 42 seconds left to play after Julie Rugg and Laura Nelson each hit a three. The Knights then made enough foul shots down the stretch to close out the win.

May was the leading scorer for the Lions with 12 points. Rugg chipped in seven as did Sheedy. Nelson scored six, Baumann four, and Jennifer Boisjolie four.

Three big Knights ended up in double figures with most of their scores coming within five feet of the basket. Krueger ended up with 14, Tessa Niebuhr with a baker’s dozen and Amy Soost with 10.

Almost all of L/P’s Southeast Conference West Division foes did not fair well in their respective opening night games. Grand Meadow was beaten 53-36 by Lanesboro, LeRoy-Ostrander lost 65-53 to Rushford-Peterson, and Spring Grove beat Fillmore Central 48-37. The only winner was Southland, which went to Houston for their first game. The Rebels beat the Hurricanes 41-26.

"We held them to 12 points in the first three quarters," Southland coach Earl Orvik said. "We scored only four in the third quarter. It would have been nice to get in double figures there. We missed some baskets that we should make the rest of the year.

Betsy Matheis led the Rebels with 13 points. Mary Landherr added eight. Erin Orvik had five with a trey and Holly Johnson scored her only three points on a long distance bomb.

Hayfield 69, Pine Island 33

The Vikings used a big run at the end of the second quarter to pull away from the Panthers in the inaugural game of the 1999-2000 season. The Vikings were ahead 45-17 by the halftime buzzer, outscoring the home team 26-9 in the second quarter.

"We went on a 15-2 run in the final three minutes of the first half," Hayfield coach Jay Klagge said. "We pressed them the whole first half and our 10-person depth finally wore them down and we scored a flurry of buckets."

Leading the way for the Vikings was Bonnie Thoe with 16 points, she also grabbed seven rebounds. Sheri Swanson scored 13 and "Big Kristin" Petersen 11. Point guard Kristin Peterson dished out five assists. The leading stealer for the Vikings was Marie Schwering with four.

Blooming Prairie 46, Kasson-Mantorville 27

The Blossoms shot well from the field which enabled them to pull away from the KoMets in the second half. For the night, the Blossoms shot 44 percent, 18-41. In the second half they were even better going 11-of-23. The Blossoms hit eight of 11 field goals in the final quarter, when they scored 18 and the KoMets just five.

"It was a good game for us," Blooming Prairie coach John Worke said. "I’ll take any game where we shoot more than 40 percent. It was nice to win on the road against a good Kasson team. The score doesn’t do justice to the game. They had a chance to get within four at the beginning of the fourth quarter."

After one quarter BP was behind 9-8, at the half they were up 21-14, and at the end of three 28-22.

Andrea Banton was the leading scorer for the Blossoms with 16. Ranelle Goette chipped in 10. Kari Olson hit two threes for her total of six points, and Missy Avery also knocked down a trey.

The Blossoms travel to Waterville-Elysian-Morristown on Friday to open up defense of their Gopher Conference crown. Last year the Blossoms posted a 14-0 record in the Conference.