JCC takes Tip-off title

By JIM BASTIAN

Journal Sports Writer

NEW ULM -- Jackson County Central used two big scoring spurts as a springboard to top the Sleepy Eye St. Mary's Knights 55-45 Saturday to capture the title of the Tip-Off Classic.

Kaitlin Dunlavey led the Huskies with a game-high 19 points. Brittany Lusk added 14 and Marie Wieneke tossed in 12.

Sophomore Molly Mathiowetz led the Knights with 17 points.

"We did not attack offensively until late in the game and we need to get better at that against good defensive teams," Knights' coach Bruce Woitas said. "We did a better job of that late in the game but we need to learn to do that from the start."

JCC is a team that is a favorite in Section 3A.

The Lady Knights took a 10-6 lead over as two free throws from Liza Schwartz and two baskets in the paint by Molly Mathiowetz erased a 6-4 JCC lead and lifted the Lady Knights to a 10-6 lead.

But Mathiowetz' basket, on a feed from Schwartz with just under four minutes left in the first quarter, was the final basket of the quarter. JCC shut down St. Mary's and ran off the final seven poi to take a 13-10 lead.

"We had some match-up problems playing man-to-man early on," Woitas said. "They were posting up some of our perimeter players, because they have a very balanced group of kids."

St. Mary's would hang tough with the Huskies, but could not overcome JCC, which took a halftime lead of 27-20.

Mathiowetz' basket to start the third quarter sparked a 6-2 spurt by the Knights. A Maria Gangelhoff basket off of a steal by Mathiowetz and a Mathiowetz follow-up basket cut the lead to 29-26 with four minutes left in the third.

"Molly is a girl who spends a lot of time at the game of basketball," Woitas said. "She really sparked us there at one point."

But like the first quarter, it was deja vu for the Knights. Outside of a Mathiowetz free throw with 1:29 left in the third quarter, they were unable to connect on a basket from the floor.

"We missed a lot of opportunities at times," Woitas said. St. Mary's hit on only 3-of-12 shots from the floor in the quarter. "We had some lay-up type shots that did not go down. If we get those to go, it creates more of a flow to the game."

That cold snap allowed JCC to increase their lead from a slim 29-26 to a comfortable 39-27 lead heading into the fourth quarter.

And once again, the Knights sliced that double-digit lead to a precarious 49-43 lead on steals and baskets by Gangelhoff and Brynn Braulick and a Mathiowetz hoop.

But JCC sealed the game at the foul line, scoring the last six points of the game there.

"We need to get better at being more aggressive offensively, especially when we get teams like this that come in and have a good natural balance," Woitas said.

JCC 13 14 12 16 -- 55

SESM 10 10 7 18 -- 45

JCC (55) -- Dunlavey 19, Lusk 14, Wieneke 12, Prine 5, Rosso 3, Prosaska 2.

SESM (45) -- Mathiowetz 17, Schwartz 9, Gangelhoff 8, Hurias 4, Carr 3, Spaeth 2, Braulick 2.