
By Brenda Erdahl
Sports Editor
The Maple Lake girls basketball team came within one point of getting their second win of the season last week at home against Blake.
After falling to Central Minnesota Conference opponent Kimball 65-34 earlier in the week, the Irish set themselves up for the win Friday, Feb. 9 at home. The Irish lead 20-17 at halftime, but a Blake run late in the game gave them the points they needed to edge the home team 45-44.
“The girls fought hard and put themselves in a spot to win, but came up short,” Irish Head Coach Adam Ronnenberg said. “Progress is made every week, and I am proud of the fight the girls bring each day.”
Vs Kimball
The Irish started the week at Kimball on Thursday, Feb. 8. By half time the Irish trailed 21-36.
Maple Lake got down early, but battled through the first half and cut the lead to just eight at one point, Coach Ronnenberg said. After that, they settled into a 2-3 zone and tried to pack it in against the Cubs’ strong post play and rebounding corp. But the Irish struggled rebounding, recovering only 20 rebounds in comparison to Kimball’s 44, and the game slowly crept away from them.
“I felt like we had a decent game plan coming in and really forced Kimball to play our pace throughout the game. We defended hard for nearly the entire shot clock and gave up too many second and third chances,” Ronnenberg said.
Turnovers came in bunches for the Irish and they couldn’t handle the Cubs’ ball pressure. Points in the paint also hurt the Irish who scored eight from this key area compared to Kimball who scored 34.
Aleigha Jensen led the Irish in scoring with 15 points.
Vs Blake
Going into Friday’s home game against Blake, the Irish knew they were going to have to defend well against the Bear to have any chance at winning. Maple Lake battled for rebounds and “executed the defensive game plan as well as we have in any game this season,” Ronnenberg said.
To read more on the Irish girls basketball season subscribe today.