Greyhounds open season with win over Comfrey

By BENJAMIN TOMCZAK

Journal Sports Writer

NEW ULM -- Mary Dengerud had one goal for her Greyhounds Thursday: "We're going to play the game we want to play." And New Ulm Cathedral did.

The Greyhounds opened their season with a 60-52 Tomahawk Conference win over the Comfrey Rockets.

Cathedral (1-0, 1-0 Tomahawk), eager to get the season started after snow forced their Tuesday game to be postponed until Thursday, came out with high expectations. The Greyhounds wanted to be able to run their offense and defense, and against Comfrey (0-1, 0-1), stop 6'3" Holli Pederson.

Mission accomplished.

From the start, it was Cathedral setting the pace of the game, which would be quick, but the Rockets hung around. Neither team was able to get more than three points ahead until the fourth quarter.

The Rockets led 15-14 after one, Cathedral led 27-26 at the half. The lead changed hands eight times in the third quarter before Cathedral got a two point edge, 43-41, heading into the fourth.

In the fourth, the Hounds sprinted out on a 9-1 run, ignited by a Kristin Beranek 3 from the right corner with 7:21 to go. Nikki Fischer then provided some more sparks, hitting a transition bucket, dishing out to Jessica Lewis who hit a sweet 17-footer and then it was Fischer hitting two free throws with 6:10 remaining. Suddenly it was 52-42 Cathedral.

"We're going to score in spurts," Dengerud said, "and we did that tonight. That's kind of what I hoped we would do."

Beranek finished with 12 points and four assists. Fischer had 10 points, complemented by five rebounds and three steals.

Defensively, the number one goal was to stop Pederson. This job was handed to Katie Gieseke and Shelly Waibel.

The two juniors did a fantastic job, frustrating the big Rocket throughout the night. Pederson was held scoreless until the middle of the second quarter and only attempted four shots in the first half.

"Cathedral had quite a bit to do with Holli not getting the ball," Rocket coach Keith Schroeder commented. "They were playing "in-the-face" defense."

The two Greyhounds nearly paid the ultimate price, however, as each hovered dangerously close to fouling out in a physical Tomahawk matchup that totaled 42 fouls.

"Katie and Shelly did a good job in there," Dengerud said after the game. "I was afraid I was going to lose both of them. We were in foul trouble, but I thought, 'Well, we're going to have to play until we lose players.'"

The opposite turned out to be true, it was Comfrey losing players.

Pederson, as solid players are wont to do, snapped out of her funk, scoring eight points in the third quarter and beginning to assert her size in the paint, but it wasn't enough. Pederson fouled out with 3:15 to go in the game. She also was forced to sit at times in the second quarter due to foul trouble. Pederson finished the night with 15 points, nine rebounds, three blocks and four assists.

"We were right back in the game," Schroeder mused, "and then we lost Holli."

Another loss came with 33 seconds left in the game with another foul out, that of Jessie Goblirsch.

Goblirsch led the Rockets with 16 points and sparked an early rally in the first quarter, scoring six straight as Comfrey built an 11-8 lead. Goblirsch hit some key shots in the third as Comfrey traded leads with Cathedral, and in the fourth traded buckets with teammate Shandel Amsden in a rally that erased the Hounds' 10-point lead and saw the score tied at 52 with 3:20 to go. Goblirsch, a sophomore, fouled out with less than a minute remaining.

The toughest loss for Comfrey took place just 32 seconds into the game, when junior point guard Jessica Schumann landed awkwardly on her left leg attempting a lay-up. Schumann remained down and never returned. The exact damage to her knee is not known for sure, but will be checked out today.

"When we lost Jessica thirty seconds into the game, a lot of things changed," Schroeder lamented. "Jessica would have done a lot of ball-handling. That hurts.

"Basically I had no bench left. I was short to start with; there wasn't much I could do after that."

One Rocket who picked up the slack was Amsden. The 5'9" junior post finished with a double-double, 12 points and 15 rebounds.

Cathedral had two others starters in double figures. Gieseke scored a team-high 15 and grabbed three rebounds. Liesl Genelin outhustled nearly everyone all night and ended up with 12 points, seven rebounds, two steals and three assists.

"Our hustle continues to be there at all times," Dengerud enthused. "We had our bodies on the floor."

The Greyhounds b-squad also won 27-25.