Eagles generate turnovers, lack offense

NEW ULM -- The New Ulm Eagles girls basketball team is getting better at keeping the other team from putting the ball in the hoop. They just have to work on putting the ball in the hoop themselves.

The Eagles helped cause 24 Waseca Bluejay turnovers Thursday night, but still dropped a 61-42 decision to their much taller conference rivals.

"Offense is our Achilles heel," Eagles coach Brad Metter said. "Defensively, we've forced a lot of turnovers and rebounding-wise, I think we've done a nice job. I see improvement in every game and we never stop playing.

"Every opportunity we have, we need to shoot and shoot with confidence. I don't like giving up 61 points, but if we can score 45-50 points a night and hold defensively, we have a chance," Metter said.

New Ulm had a good first quarter, taking a 15-14 lead after the first eight minutes behind 10 points from Kelly Hammerschmidt that included a jumper at the buzzer. The Eagles forced seven Bluejay turnovers in the quarter that included five errant passes and resulted in six New Ulm points.

The two teams played evenly through the first part of the second quarter, with a bucket by Hammerschmidt and perfection from the free throw line by Martha Beatty and Coresa Leighty resulting in a 21-21 tie with four minutes left in the half.

But the Bluejays Betsie Collins hit her third 3-pointer of the night, followed by two quick layups from Samantha Boje, and suddenly Waseca was up 28-21. The Bluejays took a 30-24 lead at halftime and extended their lead to 42-28 with a 12-4 run to open the third quarter.

Two Eagles turnovers resulted in a trey by Boje and a layup from Tressa Beckel that made it 48-32 heading into the final quarter.

New Ulm managed a comeback at the start of the quarter, taking advantage of Waseca turnovers and a temporary stop of the Bluejay offense.

Megan Oberle had a jumper and a layup, Leighty hit two jumpers and Melissa Kuebler hit from ten feet out, cutting the Waseca lead to 50-42. But those were the final points the Eagles were able to manage, with the final 11 points in the Bluejays column.

Hammerschmidt led all scorers with 16, while Leighty added 11. Beckel led the Bluejays with 14, while Staci Beckel had 11 and Kristalyn Pilcher had 10.

The Eagles are now 0-6 overall, 0-2 in the South Central Conference.

In B-squad action, the Eagles dropped a 47-31 decision to drop to 2-4. Cayley Collum had nine points, with Lauren Smith adding six and Melissa Kuebler with five. The New Ulm C-squad improved to 5-1 with a 38-27 victory, led by Courtney Steinhauser with 19 points and 15 rebounds and Lis Weineke with eight points and five rebounds.

The Eagles travel to play Fairmont next Tuesday at 7:30 p.m.