February, 18, 2000

New Riegel gets scoring drought

By Ed Fox
Sports Writer

FREMONT - New Riegel picked the wrong time to suffer a scoring drought,

The Blue Jackets went dry over the final 4:28 of the game and suffered a 61-60 loss at Fremont St. Joe Thursday night.

"We had some good looks at the basket but just couldn't get anything to fall," said New Riegel coach Steve Lucius. "We got a fairly decent shot at the end with Janelle Reed in close but couldn't get it to drop."

After hitting 23-of-41 action shots through the first three quarters the Blue Jackets were only 3-of-13 from the floor over the final eight minutes.

While St. Joe, which finished 18-2 overall and runner-up in the Midland Athletic League at 9-1, wasn't much warmer with 2-for-8 from the field in the fourth quarter, they were helped by a 5-of-9 showing from the charity stripe while New Riegel missed both of its free throw attempts. For the game the Crimson Streaks were 11-of-19 from the foul line to just 4-of-8 for the Blue Jackets.

"They (St. Joe) got to the foul line way before we did and I thought that was the key," said Lucius. "Their kids got in the one-and-one early and that made a big difference.

"It was a great game between two very good teams and I'm very proud of my team. They just executed a little better down the stretch than we did."

Erin Raubenolt led the way for the Crimson Streaks with six of her 10 points coming in the final period including 4-of-6 from the stripe. Rachel Babione led St. Joe with 18 points and Brea Busold scored 15.

New Riegel, finishing regular season play at 14-6 overall and 8-2 in the MAL, had a 52-39 lead midway through the third quarter and still led by six (60-54) following a jumper in the lane by Kari Reinhart with 4:28 remaining.

But it was St. Joe scoring the final seven points of the game to secure the win.

Just 40 seconds after the Reinhart score, Babione nailed her third 3-pointer of the contest to get the Crimson Streaks within three (60-57). A rebound bucket by Raubenolt got St. Joe within one (60-59) and she came back to hit what proved to be the two winning free throws with 1:42 left to play.

"These kids have always seemed to find a way. They've never given up all season," said St. Joe coach Gary Geller. "They always find a way to win. Even the games we lost to Hopewell-Loudon and Lakota we had a chance to win both of those games. The girls just never give up."

The Blue Jackets had four players in double digits with Jenny Gibson, Sabrina Reinhart and Dawn Faeth each scoring 12 while Reed had 10 and Leanne Wertz followed with eight.

Thanks to a 19-for-28 shooting effort in the first half the Blue Jackets were able to take a 42-36 lead at halftime. St. Joe also shot well with 14-of-29.

New Riegel followed up the sizzling first half with a 10-3 run to start the second half and had a 52-39 lead with just over four minutes left in the third quarter.

That lead quickly dissipated as the Crimson Streaks closed out the period with a 12-2 run and were only down by three (54-51) heading into the final eight minutes.

"I knew that we couldn't be comfortable with that lead (52-39) because they have some very good 3-point shooters and can catch up fast," said Lucius. "We had a great offensive first half, that's probably the best we've played in one half. When you have two of the best defensive teams in the league going after each other you don't expect a 42-36 score at halftime."