MVL throttles Indians, 52-31

Czer goes over 1,000-point milestone for Chargers

By DAVE CLARK

Journal Sports Writer

NEW ULM -- At 8:16 Saturday night, Erin Czer pulled up on her homecourt just inside the left side of the free throw line, took a pass, and with no one within five feet of her, arched the ball towards the hoop.

As it hit nothing but net, Czer became just the third girls basketball player in Minnesota Valley Lutheran Chargers' history to score 1,000 points, joining 1994 players Naci Melzer and Lisa Gronholz.

Oh yeah, and at 8:46 the Chargers nailed their 17th win of the season with a 52-31 victory over the Sleepy Eye High Indians.

"We were wanting her (Czer) to score," said Chargers coach Dave Biedenbender. "Erin has done a great job. She's been on varsity since her freshmen year, and over the years, she's scored a lot."

The Indians made the game more difficult for the Chargers than in their first meeting, which saw MVL win by 35 points. The Chargers held just a 14-5 lead after the first quarter, with 12 points off Indian turnovers. Sleepy Eye played zone defense instead of man-to-man, and few of MVL's points came easy.

While Czer got the first Chargers points of the second quarter for a 16-5 lead, MVL missed their next seven shots. In the meantime, Ann Tauer hit a duece for the Indians, followed by a trey from Sarah Starkey and a layup from Anne Ibberson that cut the Chargers lead to 16-12 with 2:53 in the half.

But the Chargers quickly regained their footing, with Angie Unke and Jessica Merseth hitting jumpers that put MVL up 24-14 at the half.

Czer ended the half with eight points, and it was clear the Chargers wanted to get her the ball in the third quarter. She got an early layup that put the score at 26-16, and points number 1,000 and 1,001 made it 31-16. After stopping the game for a short announcement and presentation to Czer of a game ball, the Chargers were hardly stopped the rest of the game.

Merseth scored eight straight points, making it 41-19 in favor of MVL. The Indians put together a five-point return with another three from Starkey and a jumper from Tauer, but it wasn't enough. MVL outscored Sleepy Eye 11-7 in the final quarter for the 52-31 final, but Indians coach Brad Goode was happy with the Indians play nonetheless.

"Tonight our goal was to slow them down, and it worked for a while. We had some things we wanted to work on and we did them pretty well," said Goode.

Merseth led all scorers with 22 points, followed by Czer with 12. Ibberson led the Indians with 10 points. MVL outrebounded Sleepy Eye 41-10, with Merseth pulling down 14 boards and Unke adding eight. Czer also had seven steals.

MVL (17-2, 15-0 Tomahawk) will travel to Springfield 7:30 p.m. Monday. Sleepy Eye(2-18, 2-14) hosts Buffalo Lake-Hector at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday.