Mustangs falter against MVL

By JEREMY BEHNKE

Journal Sports Writer

NEW ULM -- Coming into Tuesday's game with Minnesota Valley Lutheran, Buffalo Lake-Hector knew it didn't match up well inside with the Chargers.

But rather than shy away from an inside game and launch shots from beyond the arc, the Mustangs attacked and tried to get MVL's Eva Voss and Kelsey Krohn in early foul trouble.

Although the strategy worked early, the Chargers controlled the paint and defeated the Mustangs 54-38 in Tomahawk Conference girls basketball action.

Krohn led the Chargers with 14 points.

"We just knew we had to stay on the Ashburn girls, because that was pretty much their team," Krohn said. "I think we did a pretty good job of shutting them down."

Monica Ashburn scored eight points and Leah Ashburn scored seven. Both had five rebounds. Dayna Rippentrop led the Mustangs with nine points.

"We knew going in that Monica and Leah Ashburn were there two best players," MVL coach Dave Biedenbender said. "We started out just going our regular defense, but when they started hitting shots, then we changed to triangle-and-two. We played that against them off and on in the second half, and I think that kind of frustrated them."

The Mustangs attempted only two shots from beyond the arc compared to 16 for the Chargers.

"Right away, we weren't really looking to shoot -- we were looking to pass it inside," Monica Ashburn said. "The shots started opening up, so we started taking them, but they took me and my sister Leah away, so we were trying to get it back inside again."

"I think we wanted to get the ball inside and try and see if we could get their girls in foul trouble," BLH coach Josh Tjosaas said. "We did do that, but we talked in the locker room after the the game that if we have the open shot, we have to take it.

"We're not an outstanding 3-point shooting team, but we are a good outside shooting team," Tjosaas said. "We just gotta be aggressive."

MVL outrebounded the Mustangs 39-25.

"We always talk about rebounding -- we talk about it before every game," Biedenbender said. "I am disappointed in the amount of offensive rebounds they had, but to outrebound them is important, especially with our height inside."

The rebounding advantage was frustrating for BLH as they gave up numerous second and third chances.

"Some games we just don't really commit to everyone boxing out their person and one slips by and puts the rebound in," Monica Ashburn said. "Sometimes they got two or three on us on an offensive board."

MVL jumped out to an 8-0 lead in the first quarter thanks to a couple of BLH turnovers at midcourt.

"We had a lot of forced passes right away, or just putting the ball down on the court when we shouldn't [have]," Monica Ashburn said. "We had some dumb fouls right away and they got to the line."

BLH climbed back to 8-7, but the Chargers made another run late and led 11-9 after the first quarter.

Amanda Dettman's 3-pointer put MVL up 14-9 to start the second quarter and Allie Krenz' steal at midcourt and layup put the Chargers up 27-20 at halftime.

"Every time we made a run -- they went up 8-0 and then we cut it to 8-7 -- and then late in the second quarter we cut it to three and then we get two turnovers and now it's a seven-point lead at halftime," Tjosaas said.

MVL went up 33-22 on Krohn's basket inside and Karissa Kramer's 3-pointer put MVL up 38-28.

MVL forced 13 turnovers and committed only 15.

"This is our best game -- the least amount of turnovers we've had all year, and I've been preaching that to the girls all year," Biedenbender said. "If we can take care of the ball and not turn the ball over, we can be a great team."

MVL was also 16-of-24 from the line.

"We've been working a lot on free throws in practice, and I think our percentage is the best it's been in the last few years," Krohn said.

MVL hosts Cedar Mt. Thursday and BLH hosts Springfield Friday.