WCA girls defeat Tigers, Warriors, at 4-2

CA girls defeat Tigers, Warriors, at 4-2

The Knights’ girls basketball team got a pair of hard-fought wins last week to improve their season mark to 4-2. They were in Morris on Thursday night to take on the Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta Tigers and came away with a 53-40 win. Then, on Friday night, they battled the Wheaton/Herman-Norcross Warriors in Barrett and got a 49-38 victory.

 The Knights (4-2, 3-1) are currently in second place in the Pheasant Conference standings, behind Hancock (6-0, 5-0). W/H-N (4-3, 2-3), CGB (5-2, 1-2), and Ortonville (0-7, 0-5) all trail the Knights.

 WCA is currently holding the number three spot in the Section 6A South standings. Parkers Prairie (58.2 QRF points) is in first place, at the moment, followed by Hancock (52), WCA (39.9), W/H-N (35.8), B-E (34.9), CGB (33), Battle Lake (27.3), Ashby (13.4), and Ortonville 5.9).

 This week, the Knights have a great chance to rise up in both the Pheasant Conference standings and the Section standings. WCA has games at Battle Lake on Tuesday night and at home against Hancock on Friday night.

 Knights – 63

Tigers – 50

 The Knights played a non-conference game in Morris last Thursday night against the Tigers. The game was tight early, but the Knights would stretch a five-point lead to 16 points by the time halftime rolled around. WCA led, 38-22. 

The Tigers were able to cut the lead to eight points, partway through the second half, but the Knights would prevail in the end by a final score of 63-50.

 WCA was again led by Lexi Bright who had 30 points, eight steals, five rebounds, and two assists. Elizabeth Rustan had ten points, seven rebounds, two steals, and an assist. Kaitlyn Hansen had seven points, a rebound, a steal, and an assist. Chloe LaRue had six points, a rebound and an assist. Claire Stark scored five points and had two assists, a rebound, and a steal. Brynn Fernholz had two points and two rebounds. Halle Foslien had two points, five rebounds, and an assist. Brooke Anderson had two rebounds and a steal. Sydney Ulrich had a rebound and a steal. Kennedy Ulrich grabbed two rebounds on the night.

 “Tonight, we did some great things to build the lead, but then we had a stretch during which we did not play strong basketball,” said WCA Coach Eric Schoenbauer. “We sometimes feel the need to rush on offense when, instead, we should simply take what the defense gives us and continue to look for our shots. Rushing things does not help us put the ball in the hole.”

 Knights – 49

 Warriors – 38

 The Knights hosted the Wheaton Warriors on Friday night in a Pheasant Conference showdown. The game started out as a defensive battle as baskets were hard to come by for both teams. WCA slowly built a lead, but W/H-N scored a bucket right before the half to cut the Knights’ lead to just four points, 23-19.

 The second half saw the Knights grow their lead to double digits, but that was shaved back down to just six points with three minutes to play. The Knights gave up a late basket and lead by just four points, but the Warriors then had to foul the Knights to try to prolong the game and the Knights made several free throws to eventually win by 11 points, 49-38. 

WCA was led by Lexi Bright with 31 points, eight steals, five rebounds, two assists, and a blocked shot. Kaitlyn Hansen had six points, two steals, two rebounds, and an assist. Halle Foslien scored points and had four rebounds, a steal, and an assist. Elizabeth Rustan had three points, three steals, three rebounds, and an assist. Sydney Ulrich scored three points and grabbed two rebounds. Brynn Fernholz had two points, two rebounds, and two assists. Claire Stark had six rebounds and an assist. Brooke Anderson had two rebounds and a steal. Chloe LaRue grabbed two rebounds and Kennedy Ulrich grabbed three.

 “The team is really working on the defensive end of the court and everyone’s combined effort is the reason we won tonight. The box score really doesn’t reflect the effort each of the girls put into the task of working hard,” Coach Schoenbauer stated. “I’m very proud of what the girls were able to accomplished tonight, right after a tough battle against Morris Area last night.”