Eagles lose in overtime: Bergmann scores 23, Oberle has 18 boards

By JEN SEAVEY

Journal Sports Editor

NEW ULM -- Down by 10 in the third quarter, the New Ulm girls staged a comeback and tied Albert Lea 44-44 after Megan Oberle's fast break bucket, sending the game into overtime.

Junior guard Alix Bergmann, who led the Eagles with 23 points, kept the Eagles close in OT, scoring on a layup, a jumper and two free throws to make it 50-51, but the game slipped away with Albert Lea's free throws. After two crucial Eagle turnovers, Albert Lea's Ashley Helgerson and Danielle Rankin combined for 4-6 free throws to give the Tigers the 55-50 OT victory.

Rankin scored 23 points and had 11 rebounds for the Tigers, and Helgerson had eight points.

Oberle ended the game with eight points and 18 boards for the Eagles.

"This team put it to us," Bergmann said. "We needed to play smart. We wanted it so bad, but it wasn't there."

Three Eagle players fouled out of the game while still in regulation: Coresa Leighty, Martha Beatty and Jenny Clobes. Leighty finished the game with 13 rebounds and eight points. Beatty had six points.

"I think mentally, people ... get caught up in the intensity, the aggression," Leighty said.

"We used a half-court press; this is our first game and the first time we have had the personnel to do that," Eagle coach Brad Metter said. "The fouls will come down when they start making better decisions."

Both teams started the game out slowly. Halfway through the first quarter, both teams were still in single-digits. And at the end of the quarter, Albert Lea was ahead 16-7. Bergmann started off the second quarter with an outside jumper. Late in the quarter, the Eagles were down 18-28, but Bergman hit a three-pointer to end the quarter on a high note.

In the third quarter, Beatty made a fast break basket, followed by an Alex Harsha bucket to bring the score to 30-25, but the Eagles ended the quarter down by nine.

"This team has so much heart," she said. "Losing this shows us how much harder we need to work in practice."

The Eagles finally caught the Tigers in the fourth quarter. After flirting with a tie for half the quarter, Bergmann made a shot from the free throw line and Oberle put back a rebound to tie the game at 39 before tying it again at 44.

"When we needed to rise, we did; we did the best we could for now," Bergmann said. "It's not what we wanted to be like. We are so much better."

Leighty agrees that the team has come a long way, but also that it has a long way to go.

"I think we did pretty good where we were coming from last year," she said. "But there are things we need to work on -- fundamentals. We had too many turnovers.

Albert Lea freshman Cara Thorn had six steals alone.

"It was a good start, but we don't want to be satisfied with a five-point overtime loss," Metter said. "The girls were smiling in the locker room, which is a good thing, but I want to get to the point where, after a game like this, their heads are hanging because it should have been a game we won."

New Ulm hosts LeSueur-Henderson Tuesday.

Cedar Mountain 68, Mountain Lake Christian 16

CEDAR MOUNTAIN -- Ashley Kokesch powered Cedar Mountain to an easy victory Tuesday night against visiting Mountain Lake Christian.

Kokesch scored 22 points and added nine steals, while Katie and Kelly Gewerth followed with 13 and 10 points, respectively.

The Cougars had 20 steals and shot 55 percent from the field to easily handle Christian and will take their 1-0 record into New Ulm Tuesday to play Minnesota Valley Lutheran.

SW-Star Concept 56,

Comfrey 46, OT

OKABENA -- Jessie Goblirsch scored 16 points and Allison Kelly scored 15, but Comfrey fell to Southwest Star Concept Tuesday in Red Rock Conference girls basketball action.

Comfrey (0-1) is at Round Lake Friday.

Cathedral 55, Madelia 26

MADELIA -- Led by Katie Beranek and Nikki Fischer, the Cathedral girls' basketball jumped out to a 23-5 first-quarter lead and never looked back against Madelia.

Beranek dropped 15 points on the Blackhawks and Fischer followed up with 13 as the Greyhounds rolled in Madelia.