Irish girls’ overtime win sandwiched by losses

by Rachel Latour Monday, Feb. 11, the Irish girls headed to Cathedral for a matchup between two subsection opponents. The last time they played was the first round of the playoffs a year ago. The Irish won that game and advanced to the second round, ending the Crusaders ‘ season for the second year in a row. Maple Lake got off to a very sluggish start and trailed the Crusaders early by a score of 15-0 over the course of the first nine minutes of the game. Avoiding panic, the Irish finished the half on a 17 – 7 run to pull within seven at halftime. Pressure man defense allowed the Irish to pull within one (35-34) with nine minutes to play in the game. Despite calling a few timeouts down the stretch and putting Cathedral to the free-throw line, the Irish simply ran out of time and lost by six with a final score of 57-51. The Irish turned the ball over nine times, compared to 14 by the Crusaders. Cathedral shot 48 percent from the field compared to 35 percent by the Irish. Rebounds were even at 32. Hannah Haegele led the Irish with a season-high 12 points (10 in the second half). Shelby Rachel notched a double-double, with 11 points and 11 rebounds. “I am not quite sure how to keep us from starting games so slowly, but getting down 0-15 is a tough hole to climb out of,” coach Adam Ronnenberg said. “The girls played hard and gave themselves a chance late in the game, which is something to be proud of.” Pts Stls Assts Rebs R. Latour 7 1 3 2 J. Pomije 4 1 2 1 R. Coughlin 10 1 3 4 H. Haegele 12 1 – 4 E. Webb 3 3 1 2 S. Rachel 11 2 1 11 D. Hudek 4 1 – 6 L. Aanerud – – – 2 The Pierz Pioneers came to Irish Country the following day. These two teams played earlier at Pierz and the Irish came up on the losing end by a score of 60-47. Tuesday, the home team won again. Once again the Irish started slowly and trailed 10-3 in the opening minutes of the game. Solid defense and free-throw shooting sparked the Irish as they found their first lead of the game, 24-22, with six minutes left in the half. Both teams traded baskets and the Irish led 32-29. Maple Lake scored the first four points of the second half to earn their largest lead of the game, 36-29. Pierz fired back, going on an 11-2 run to gain a 40-38 lead, with 10 minutes to play. Rachel Latour hit a big three moments later to retake the lead at 41-40. From there, the game featured three more lead changes and two ties.
More information and stats appears in this week’s Messenger.