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January 5, 2000
Wolverines hand GFW first defeatBy BOB VARMETTE Journal Sports Writer WINTHROP -- There was no way this was going to be just another nonconference game. Not with the antagonist schools barely 15 miles apart, not with the schools in the same sub-section. And then there was the matchup of the big girls. Sibley East's big girls won the matchup and the Wolverines won the game, taking a 59-50 win from Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop Tuesday in girls basketball. The loss was the first of the season for Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop. Both teams learned a lot in what is almost certain to not be their final meeting of the season. "It's nice to be able to play this kind of competition," Sibley East coach Steve Schmitz said. "We needed to find out if we can play with them because we'll see them at the end. We had confidence and we wanted to win this game." The Wolverines got the win despite not having two-year starting wing Stephanie Schultz in the lineup. Schultz missed the game with mononucleosis. Seniors Tera Bjorklund and Hali McClelland combined for 37 points for Class 2A No. 1 Sibley East (6-1). Rebekah Kiecker and Rebecca Kaukola paired up for 24 for GFW (7-1). "The third quarter really hurt us," GFW coach Jamie Plummer said. "We didn't press as well as we should've. We worked on that extensively." Bjorklund -- the Wolverines' 6-foot-4 post -- led with a game-high 20 points while McClelland added 17 points and a game-high 13 rebounds. Kaukola topped the Thunderbirds with 17 points, but Kiecker had only seven to go along with 12 rebounds. The 6-foot McClelland was 8-for-13 from the field and Bjorklund was even hotter, hitting 9-for-11. And, of course, most of that was from inside. Even foul trouble for the Wolverines' two big girls didn't seem to slow the duo down. "They seemed more like touchy fouls," McClelland said. "The officials were calling more of those and not the body fouls, and they were doing a lot of pushing." Both teams were pushing to get their inside games established early. But it didn't come easy for either team as both the Thunderbirds and the Wolverines came out in zone defenses. Sibley East tentatively tried to work its inside game while GFW went bombs away. The Thunderbirds put up five 3s in the first quarter, missing all of them, and were 6-for-23 (26.1 percent) from behind the arc for the game. That's not exactly how the Thunderbirds wanted it, but it wasn't entirely unexpected. "They're pretty tough to shoot inside on with Bjorklund in there," Plummer said. "We didn't get established offensively the way we wanted to." After the teams played to a 12-all draw after one quarter, the Wolverines began to get things going inside with Bjorklund and McClelland. McClelland had four points and Bjorklund pumped in nine points as Sibley East moved to a 28-24 margin at halftime. GFW, which shot 9-for-36 (25 pecent) from the field in the first two quarters, stayed close with rebounding. The Thunderbirds outboarded the Wolverines 22-20 in the first half, including 10 offensive rebounds. Kiecker was 1-for-7 from field in the first half, but she got five rebounds off the offensive glass for GFW. That was part of the reason for the foul trouble of Bjorklund and McClelland. McClelland got her second foul very early in the second quarter. She picked up her third personal with two seconds left in the first half. Bjorklund had two fouls of her own in the first half. With McClelland starting the third quarter on the bench, Bjorklund became the Thunderbirds' target. "When you get three fouls, they're always trying to get you to get more fouls," Bjorklund said. Bjorklund picked up her fourth foul with 1:34 left in the third with Sibley East up 44-34. And she got it on a charge leading the break when she collided with Kiecker as she was going in for a layup. "We were worried," Schmitz said. "Rarely does that happen, for both of them to get in foul trouble. We have a tendency reaching with our hands. They were deserved, we got called for a lot of fouls because of our reaching." Bjorklund returned with 6:10 in the game, and McClelland stayed out of foul trouble the rest of the way, but each only scored a pair of points in the final quarter. But Jennifer Martens and Diana Martens scored four and five points for the Wolverines, respectively. Diana Martens finished with 15 points for Sibley East. In the junior varsity game, Sibley East won 31-23. Sibley East will return to Minnesota River Conference action Thursday at LeCenter. GFW will meet Cedar Mountain in Morgan Friday in a Tomahawk Conference game. SIBLEY EAST 12 16 18 13--59 GFW 12 12 10 16--50 SIBLEY EAST (59): J.Martens 2-6 0-0 4, D.Martens 5-12 3-4 15, Brau 0-1 0-0 0, Cameron 0-0 0-0 0, Dose 0-0 0-1 0, Polivka 0-1 0-0 0, Lindstrand 1-4 1-2 3, Bjorklund 9-11 2-3 20, McClelland 8-13 1-2 17. Totals 25-48 7-12 59. GFW (50): Alexander 4-9 0-0 8, Black 3-11 1-2 7, Liebl 0-2 0-0 0, Kiecker 2-11 2-4 7, Kaukola 6-22 0-0 17, Dingels 4-8 3-6 11, Mauer 0-0 0-0 0, Busch 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 19-65 6-12 50. 3-point goals--Sibley East 2-2 (D.Martens 2-2), GFW 6-23 (Kaukola 5-17, Kiecker 1-1, Alexander 0-1, Black 0-5). Fouled out--None. Total fouls--Sibley East 14, GFW 15. Rebounds--Sibley East 33 (McClelland 13), GFW 37 (Kiecker 12). Turnovers--Sibley East 14, GFW 10.
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