Bulldogs pounce on Lakers to take first win

By Cara L. Dempski

TURTLE LAKE — The Boyceville girls basketball team charged headlong into its season by snatching a 53-24 over Turtle Lake on November 18.

The Bulldogs traveled to Turtle Lake to face the Lakers for their first game of the season. Head coach Jolene Bird seemed pleased with how the team opened their season.

“Overall, it was a typical first game of the season,” Bird stated. “We did some really good things on the floor, but at times just struggled putting the ball in the hoop.”

With 12 points from Morgan Kuhn and another 20 split evenly between Madysn Riek and Emma Harnisch, the team still did a respectable job putting points on board to take home the win. Kuhn dropped in two field goals and a three-pointer and put in five of seven free throws on her way to being the team’s top scorer against the Lakers. She also logged three fouls.

Riek added four field goals and a couple free throws, and logged two fouls. Harnisch took only one foul, but hit another four field goals and was a perfect two for two on free throws.

Senior Brooklyn Hellmann added eight points of her own, spreading them out over a field goal and two three-pointers, which she countered with four fouls. Cassie Malean followed Hellmann with seven points. She put in a field goal, a three-pointer, and two free throws, all while logging three fouls in the game.

Brooklyn Booth took the lowest score in the game, but did so in style by sinking two three-pointers without incurring any fouls.

“We had well-rounded scoring and played defensively as a team,” Bird said.

The Bulldogs forced nine turnovers, blocked two shots, and stole the ball from the Lakers 20 times. The team seemed slow to start in the first half, scoring only 24 points in the first 18 minutes, but picked up the pace in the second to score another 29 points in the second half.

The Lakers scored most of their points on free throws, sinking 14 of 18 attempts. They landed only two field goals and two three-point shots over 36 minutes. The Bulldogs gave Turtle Lake ample opportunity to add a point at a time with a total 23 fouls in the game.

Boyceville will have a 10-day break for the Thanksgiving holiday before they return to play November 28 on a road trip to Clear Lake.

TEAM STATISTICS (FG-FT-F-T)

BOYCEVILLE (18-11-23-53) R. Prestrud 0-0-1-0, E. Ouellette 0-0-2-0, B. Booth 2-0-0-6, C. Malean 2-2-3-7, M. Kuhn 3-5-3-12, K. Krueger 0-0-4-0, A. Bloom 0-0-1-0, C. Schultz 0-0-2-0, M. Riek 4-2-2-10, E. Harnisch 4-2-1-10, B. Hellmann 3-0-4-8.

CLEAR LAKE (4-14-17-24) K. Jobe 0-0-1-0, M. Fiettre 1-3-4-5, M. Capra 2-7-4-13, I. Beltran 1-2-4-4, J. Lee 0-2-3-2.

THREE POINTERS B — B. Booth 2, C. Malean 1, M. Kuhn 1, B. Hellmann 2; TL — M. Capra 2.