New Ulm wins second straight

By JIM BASTIAN

Journal Sports Writer

NEW ULM -- Basketball coaches constantly stress that even when your offense is off, you can still determine the game by good defensive play.

Prime example was Monday night's non-conference girls basketball match-up between Madelia and New Ulm High School.

New Ulm hit on just 20-of-61 shots from the floor, but the Eagle defense forced 27 Blackhawk turnovers as New Ulm won its second straight game with a 53-37 topping of Madelia.

Martha Beatty led the Eagles (2-6) with a game-high 18 points, including 10 points in the final quarter when New Ulm salted the game away with a 19-8 advantage.

Coressa Leighty added 16 with eight of those points being scored in the 10-point Eagle first quarter.

Melissa Tatro led the Blackhawks (2-9) with 14 points.

"It was not a pretty game on the shooting side of the game," Eagle coach Brad Metter said. "But defense that we played tonight is something that we have been trying to do and have worked on in practice with our full-court press. That created scoring opportunities for us -- we did not convert all of their turnovers but the press did a nice job for us."

And it also took away potential scoring shots for Madelia as the Blackhawks shot only 35 times from the field, converting on nine of the shots.

Tatro was the offense for Madelia, canning three treys in the game.

New Ulm would erase a quick 2-0 Madelia lead as Leighty hit two jump shots to tie the game at 4-4 and then converted two free throws to knot the game at 6-6. A Beatty basket and a Leighty turnaround jumper gave the Eagles a 10-6 lead after the first quarter.

It was a lead that the Eagles would never lose.

"Coresa had a big first half for us," Metter said about Leighty, whose jump shot from the wing with less than a minute left in the first half gave the Eagles an 18-13 halftime lead. "She did a nice job for us -- she anticipates well, sees some of those eyes and passes. I am proud of how she played tonight. She kept her head in the game and did not get in foul trouble."

Madelia would slice that five-point halftime lead to 22-20 on four free throws courtesy of Tatro. But Leighty's two charity tosses, a Leighty rebound basket and Martha Beatty's bank shot for a hoop moved the Eagles into a 28-20 lead. Alex Harsha's putback of her own shot moved the Eagles into a 30-20 lead.

But the Blackhawks, down by 34-22, would pull to within 34-29 to close out the third quarter.

However, the Eagle defense would force 12 Madelia turnovers in the final quarter and Martha Beatty would come up big as New Ulm moved that lead from 36-31 to 41-31 when Alix Bergmann hit a jumper.

Leighty hit a jumper before Beatty took over, sinking six out of seven free throw attempts which gave the Eagles a 49-34 lead.

"Martha made a lot of big free throws for us tonight down the stretch," Metter said. "I cannot say enough about the game that she played. She has been playing better and better each game -- I hope that she can continue to do that."

And Metter also hopes that the two-game winning streak can give his team confidence Friday night when they host South Central Conference foe St. Peter.

"It will be Parents' Night and it will be a good opportunity for us to get a win," he said. "We need to shoot better than we did tonight. There is the opportunity for us to win three straight games."

The New Ulm "B" squad also pulled off a win, topping Madelia 46-39. Ciarra Steinhauser led the Eagles with 19 while Melissa Kuebler added 12. Katie Pace and Heather Simpson each scored 10 for Madelia.

MADELIA 6-7-16-8 -- 37

NEW ULM 10-8-16-19 -- 53

MADELIA (37): Tatro 14, Hines 7, Jacobs 5, Ji. Gappa 4, K. Pace 4, L. Pace 2, Maras 1.

NEW ULM (53): Beatty 18, Leighty 16, Hammerschmidt 8, Bergmann 5, Oberle 3, Harsha 2, Frederickson 1.