WCA girls fall to Panthers, defeat Wolverines

The Knights’ girls basketball team was handed a tough loss, 65-69, by the visiting Parkers Prairie Panthers last Tuesday night, but they were able to regroup on Thursday night to get a win, 48-36, at Clinton-Graceville-Beardsley.

 The Knights, now 6-4 overall (5-3 section, 4-2 conf.), remain in third place in the Section 6A South standings behind Hancock (11-0), and Parkers Prairie (9-1). The Knights are being followed by W/H-N (7-4), CGB (7-3), Battle Lake (5-6), B-E (4-6), Ashby (2-9), and Ortonville (0-11). 

WCA is in second place in the Pheasant Conference standings behind front-running Hancock (7-0). They are followed by W/H-N (3-4), CGB (1-3), and Ortonville (0-6).

 This week, the Knights are scheduled to host CGB on Tuesday night and Hillcrest (3-8) on Thursday night.

 Knights – 65

Panthers – 69

 The Knights faced Parkers Prairie in Section 6A action Tuesday night in Barrett and fell, 65-69, at the hands of Panthers.

 WCA got off to a strong start in the game, holding leads of 16-6 and 23-13, but the Panthers would erase the Knights’ lead with a 15-0 run to go up 28-23. The Knights responded well at the end of the half, however, with a 9-2 run to go into the break with a 32-30 lead.

 The Panthers hit some big open shots in the second half to build a double-digit lead before the Knights came back and cut that lead to three and four points on several occasions, but they could never get a big stop when they needed it. WCA was able to get a couple of long-range threes by Lexi Bright at the end of the game to keep it close, but they ultimately fell by four points.

 Lexi Bright led the Knights with 30 points, six rebounds, five assists, three steals, and a blocked shot. Brynn Fernolz scored 18 points and had six rebounds, four steals and two assists. Elizabeth Rustan had seven points, six rebounds, five assists, and a steal. Kennedy Ulrich had three points and a steal. Claire Stark had three points and four rebounds. Chloe LaRue had two points and a rebound. Macy Grosz had two points, two rebounds, and an assist, Sydney Ulrich had three rebounds and a steal, Brooke Anderson had an assist and a rebound, Halle Foslien had a rebound, Addison Staples had a rebound, and Kaitlyn Hansen had an assist and a steal. 

“Two big indicators of why we lost this one is that we were minus eight in rebounding and minus 12 on points in the paint. These are areas we need to get better at to win these games and we’ll continue to work on them to get a more favorable end result in these close games,” coach Schoenbauer said.

 Knights – 48

Wolverines – 36

The Knights traveled to Graceville to take on the CGB Wolverines last Thursday night and came away with an important conference and section win, 48-36.

 The first half was an old school defensive battle that saw the Knights holding a lead, 18-11, at the half. Each team was a bit more offense-minded in the second half with the Knights outscoring the Wolverines, 30-25, to leave town with the win.

 The Knights were led by Lexi Bright with 16 points, five rebounds, four assists, four steals, and two blocked shots. Liz Rustan had 10 points, two rebounds, two steals, two assists. and a blocked shot. Claire Stark had eight points, six rebounds, a steal, and an assist. Brynn Fernholz had six points, four rebounds, two steals, and an assist. Addison Staples had five rebounds, four points, three assists, and a steal. Halle Foslien had two points, two rebounds, and a steal. Kaitlyn Hansen had two points and a steal. Sydney Ulrich had two rebounds, an assist, and a steal. Brooke Anderson had three rebounds and two assists. Kennedy Urlich had three rebounds and an assist. Chloe LaRue had two rebounds and Macy Grosz contributed solid minutes to the Knights’ effort.

“The defensive effort was a huge plus tonight and not giving up on plays helped make it that way. It’s crazy to think we are going to turn around and play CGB on Monday night,” coach Schoenbauer stated.