Defense lifts Chargers

By PAUL DUNLAP

Journal Sports Editor

NEW ULM -- Almost as many turnovers as points scored will spell doom for any basketball team.

The Minnesota Valley Lutheran girls squad forced 31 Cedar Mountain turnovers Tuesday night, pulling away for a 49-33 Tomahawk Conference win at MVL gym.

Sarah Gronholz scored 16 points to lead the Chargers (5-1, 5-0), who will participate in the St. Peter Holiday Tournament next week. Teammate Jessica Merseth added 12 points in the win.

"We were a little rusty, a little sloppy," MVL coach Dave Biedenbender said following the game. "We had three days off, didn't have practice (Monday, due to school's closing), and I think that affected our flow a little bit. Defensively, I thought we did a good job of holding them down."

The shots weren't falling for the Chargers early on, but the defense forced a total of nine Cougar turnovers in the opening quarter as Gronholz and Merseth spurred a 10-0 run to give MVL a 13-6 lead after one.

"Overall, that (defense) kept us where we needed to be," Biedenbender said. "We played well defensively early on when we weren't able to get our shots to fall."

The teams would trade baskets for the early part of the second until an Erin Czer jumper set the Chargers on their way. Merseth scored five points, including a steal and lay-up, in a 13-3 run that ended the half with MVL on top 30-15.

"I think we turned it on a little bit and started to play better ball," Biedenbender said of the second-quarter spurt. "That put us up 15 (points) going into half, but we still talked about playing better in the second half."

Neither team would mount a charge throughout the entire third quarter as the two would combine for just 12 points. Gronholz scored all six of the Chargers' points in the quarter as the lead held at 15.

Gronholz, Merseth and Leah Morgan would combine for 7-of-8 free throws that gave MVL a 43-25 lead in the fourth before Biedenbender emptied his bench.

"The last two games were games that I hoped we could get a lot of different people into the game," Biedenbender said as all 13 of his players saw court time. "We went down to nine or 10 in a rotation because we weren't getting production out of everyone ... we'll need that (experience) later on."

Kim Mathiowetz, who led the Cougars with 12 points, hit a fast-break bucket to stop a 6-0 MVL run as Cedar Mountain reeled off the final six points of the game. Krystal Kerkhoff scored seven points for the Cougars, with Kelly Mace and Mandy Seifert each adding six.

CEDAR MTN 6 9 6 12--33

MVL 13 17 6 13--49

CEDAR MTN (33): Mathiowetz 12, Kerkhoff 7, Mace 6, Seifert 6, Kalkhoff 2.

MVL (49): Gronholz 16, Merseth 12, Nelson 6, Czer 5, Morgan 4, Dzwonkowski 4, Unke 2.