Lady Hilltoppers have back-to-back blowouts

By Kelsie Hoitomt

GLENWOOD CITY – After taking one on the chin last week against Elk Mound, the Hilltoppers walked all over the Clear Lake Warriors and the Spring Valley Cardinals last week.

GC 52, SV 14

The Toppers attacked a young Cardinals’ team last Thursday at home as they served up a 52-14 beating.

The defense was all over the Cardinals, catching rebounds and causing turnovers. Several times the Hilltoppers stripped the ball away and sprinted down the court for an easy lay-up shot.

The Cardinals only scored three points in the first half of the game, however the majority of their attempts at the net were either air balls or bounced off the backboard.

On offense the Toppers were explosive, knocking down three point shots and passing to each other to set up well-executed plays.

There were a few turnovers and unnecessary fouls, but all together the Hilltoppers looked like a well put together team for the third game of the season.

The Toppers scored nine points in the first quarter, 23 in the second quarter, 11 in the third quarter and nine in the fourth quarter.

The scoring efforts at the net were fairly even amongst the leading scorers as Jen Kopacz scored 11 points; nine of which were from triples, Moriah Kuehndorf and Janessa Ullom each with eight points, Kelsie Knops with seven points, Olivia Weidling with six points.

Kayla Hanson and Megan Samens each had three points and Kristie Knops, Rachel Klatt and Renita McCluskey each had two points.

Having a perfect night at the line were Kuehndorf who went two for two and Samens who was one for one.

All together the Toppers are still a little rusty at the line as they were 10 for 27 at freethrow attempts made.

GC 55, CL 24

The score remained fairly close in the opening minutes of the game against the Warriors as it was 9-6. However, a fire was lite under the Hilltoppers’ bench as the girls took a strong lead of 27-12 going into the half.

The Toppers kept up their momentum in the third quarter as they scored 17 points and allowed the Warriors only five.

The fourth quarter was a bit sloppy on defense as the Warriors collected eight fouls of which five out of eight were made at the line.

The Warriors managed to score seven points in the fourth quarter, but that wasn’t enough to close the gap as the Hilltoppers defeated them 55-24.

Janessa Ullom and Jen Kopacz were quite the duo at the net as they collected over half the total points scored in the game themselves.

Ullom scored seven deuces and was one for two at the free-throw line. Kopacz scored four deuces and a triple and was four for six at the line.

Also scoring for the Toppers were Moriah Kuehndorf with ten points, Kelsie Knops with eight points, Mackenzie Wink with with three points and Rachel Klatt and Kayla Bloss each with two points.

The Warriors leading shooter was Courtney Clark with eight points, four of which were foul attempts made.

The Toppers still struggled with turnovers and fouls as they had 10 team fouls in the first half and eight in the second half.

“Started slow again and gradually played with a bit more focus and our energy improved which resulted in some quicker scoring opportunities which allowed us to take control of the game and come out with a win. We still look rusty and missed way too many easy baskets which we will need to do to compete against stronger teams, but its a long season and the girls have a good attitude and understand that until we find our shooting touch we will have to play good defense and rebound well,” explained head coach Justin Kuehndorf.

The Lady Hilltoppers played their first away game of the season Tuesday evening against the Mondovi Buffalos.