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December 1, 1999
East routs New UlmBy JIM BASTIAN Journal Sports Writer NEW ULM -- Mankato East broke open a five-point first-quarter lead by outscoring New Ulm 51-14 in the final three quarters, coasting to an easy 73-30 win over the Eagles in nonconference girl's basketball Tuesday night. Junior Kristen Kachelmeyer led a veteran Cougar team with a game-high 26 points and 10 rebounds. Briggs Rolfsrud added 13 for East. Kim Wendinger led the Eagles with 12 points. The Eagles, 0-1, travel to Willmar Thursday for a nonconference meeting with the Cardinals. "I look at the first quarter (16 points) and look at what we could do offensively," said Eagle first-year coach Paul Meyer. "We worked our offense, got good looks at the basket, hit some shots. But as the game went on, East is a very veteran team that played very tough defense and we did not deal with their pressure defense very well." The Eagles were guilty of 31 turnovers, with the Cougars scoring 24 points off of them. New Ulm would fall behind 13-8 but stay in the game thanks to the shooting of senior guard Wendinger, who scored six of the first eight New Ulm points "She had a nice game," said Meyer. "That is her job to come out and hit those shots. She is a pure shooter and plays solid defense. If we can get the ball in her hands when she is open, she will knock down the shot." An Emily Hamann three-point shot to close out the first quarter and a Wendinger trey to start the second quarter saw the upstart Eagles claw back to within 21-19. But East would run off seven straight points with Rolfsrud hitting a three-point shot before Janel Budenski, who finished with nine points in the game, stopped the bleeding hitting a jump shot from the corner with 3:10 left in the first half. Budenski's bucket would be the last points that New Ulm would score in the remaining three minutes as East would convert two rebound baskets and three turnovers into a 38-21 halftime lead. "One thing that we gave up was a lot of offensive rebounds; a lot of shots within five feet of the basket," commented Meyer. "You give any team those type of opportunities and they are going to beat you." It would be deja vu for the Eagles in the third quarter as Wendinger again opened the scoring with a three-point basket to cut the lead to 38-24. But those three points would be the last points that New Ulm would score until Jessica Schaetzke hit a jump shot two minutes into the fourth quarter. By then, the Cougars had assumed a 59-26 lead as the pressure defense frustrated the Eagles. "We don't have a lot of experience and that (turnovers) is something that I know we will get reduced as the season goes along," Meyer said. "There was nothing really surprising tonight; we did struggle a little bit on defense. I knew that they would come out at us and put a lot of pressure on us. So it is just a matter of coming back tomorrow and working hard in practice." New Ulm lost the B-Squad game 29-28. Allison Boddy scored eight points for the Eagles. MANKATO EAST 21-17-14-21=73 NEW ULM 16-5-3-6=30 EAST (73): Kachelmeyer 26, Rolfsrud 13, Ries 8, Peterson 7, Olson 7, Harrington 4, Nussmeier 2, Terrell 2, Lindstrom 2. NEW ULM (30): Wendinger 12, Budenski 9, Schaetzke 4, Hamann 3, Gorres 2.
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