Chargers, Tigers ready to go

By JIM BASTIAN

Journal Sports Writer

NEW ULM -- They have met twice during the regular season. Each has won one game, that coming on their home floor.

Now, Minnesota Valley Lutheran and Springfield High will meet for a third time as the Chargers and the Tigers vie for the Section 2-1A North sub-section girls basketball crown at 5 p.m. today at Minnesota State-Mankato's Taylor Center.

And both Springfield's Paul Arnoldi and MVL's Dave Biedenbender say that it should be a great game.

"MVL is the defending (Section 2A) champion," said Arnoldi. "They have the big three in Jessica Merseth, Erin Czer and Leah Morgan. We split during the year, so it should be a fun game."

"We know just about everything about them and they know just about everything us," commented Biedenbender, first-year Charger coach. "We know that they press well, play a good pressure defense and have a lot of offensive weapons. But I think that kind of helps us going into the game as we know what to expect."

So what was the difference in the two games?

"The first game was a game of different runs," Arnoldi said. "They put a couple of (scoring) runs on us and we had a couple of scoring runs on them."

Biedenbender feels that the difference in the two games may have been the presence of Charger center Sarah Gronholz. "We had her in that first game and we did not the second time. Plus, the second game they did everything right and we did everything wrong. We missed all of our shots; we did not get a lot of rebounds and we turned the ball over a lot. They played well and shot over 50 percent from the field and played great defense on their home court. Towards the end, we were down by 20 and we went to our reserves and it got uglier after that."

"We got off to a great start in that second game and things went right for us," Arnoldi remembers. "It was just one of those nights."

Arnoldi is concerned with several things when his team tangles with the Chargers. "Merseth is a big concern," he said. "She seems to step up her game in the big games and is a go-to person. Both Czer and Morgan go to the basket well and shoot the perimeter shot. Angie Unke (who replaced Gronholz) was been doing a good job off the boards and has played well."

Arnoldi is also concerned about Julie Dzwonkowski, Danielle Kramer and Gretta Nelson. "They come off the bench and play well. Their defense did a nice job against (Sleepy Eye) St. Mary's mixing their defenses between person-to-person and a zone. They are a nice, well-coached team that does things well."

Biedenbender is preparing his team to play a Tiger team that is very capable of ending MVL's season. "They will play a solid man-to-man defense, full-court and just hawking the ball and trying for steals. I have not seen them play any zone defense against us and I don't think that (zone defense) is coach Arnoldi's style."

He then said that his team "needs to handle their pressure and I think that we can do that. Secondly, our guards have to play well and stop (Tiger guard) Sara Anderson. Thirdly, we need a good defensive game against (forward) Amy Lipetzky."

"I think that we have been playing well and I feel good where we are at," said Arnoldi. "We have put some good games together. We have struggled at times but we responded to that and played well when we needed it. We are a balanced offensive team and we are a team -- we don't look to get the ball to one person. We find the open person."

Arnoldi said that injured player Terri Schrump "may play Friday. Right now, it is day-to-day."

'Whether (Schrump) is back to not, they still have a couple of good post players," Biedenbender said. "I think where it may hurt them is in their depth. ... We have more depth than they do."

"We got two good teams going at each other and whoever comes up with the big play and big shots will win," said Arnoldi.