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BRAINERD — There was no stopping Mia Rogholt Thursday, Dec. 8.
The Sauk Rapids senior center scored a game-high 26 points on 10-of-15 shooting to lead the Storm to a 54-22 Central Lakes Conference win over Brainerd.
“She uses her body well,” Sauk Rapids head coach Jon Roesch said. “She’s progressed throughout the years and has a nice frame on her. He has a nice touch around the basket and our girls know where to find her to be successful.”
Rogholt was also the only player in double figures Thursday.
Warriors head coach Troy Nelson said the Sauk Rapids center looked much improved from last year.
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“She had a heck of a game,” Nelson said. “From last year to this year, she’s improved drastically. She’s able to finish over both shoulders this year which wasn’t the case last year. She did a good job of getting low post position on us. We just couldn’t stop her tonight.”
The Warriors were held to just seven second-half points and made just one field goal.
Mya Tautges scored seven points to lead Brainerd. Karley Dunham and Emma Shelfo added five points.
“I thought in the second half we came out and played a lot of one-on-one,” Nelson said. “I don’t think we were running our offense a lot and it kind of snowballed. As young as we are we hurry. We get the ball in spots we want, but instead of jump-stopping, gathering and going up strong. We force shots. We just aren’t taking a deep breath and gathering. We knew coming in that offense was going to be a challenge at times, but we just have to fight through it.”
Sauk Rapids’ defense held Brainerd to 15% shooting and forced the Warriors into 24 turnovers.
“Our goal the entire game was to put pressure on their guards,” Roesch said. “They are young. They are skilled basketball players, but with how young they are I thought we did a good job of ratcheting things up.”
Sauk Rapids led 29-15 at the half. Tautges scored the first points of the second half before the Storm went on a 25-1 run.
With a young team, Nelson thought the teaching moment came last week in a 52-22 loss to Rogers. Brainerd’s next game comes Thursday, Dec. 15, on the road against Rocori.
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“I thought we would take a step tonight, but we are young,” Nelson said. “We are getting better. It didn’t necessarily show tonight, but we see it in practice. We had a great three days of practice and I honestly thought we were ready to play tonight. We struggled offensively to start the game and things snowballed for us. I told the girls we have to learn from it and get better and we have to do it together.”
Sauk Rapids 29 25 — 54
Brainerd 15 7 — 22
SAUK RAPIDS
Mackenzie Felchle 3, Grace Roesch 2, Courtney Paulsen 6, Sienna Petermeier 6, Mia Rogholt 26, Lauren Schloe 3, Ella Jevne 4, Olivia Mohs 4. FG 21-45 (46.7%), FT 11-17 (64.7%). 3-point 1-4 (25%).
BRAINERD
Ava Loney 3, Mya Tautges 7, Karley Dunham 5, Emma Shelfo 5, Elianna Riley 2. FG 6-40 (15%), FT 8-14 (57.1%). 3-point 2-17 (11.8%).
Sauk Rapids 54, Warriors 22
Key: Mia Rogholt scored 26 points for the Storm.
Conference: Brd 1-1, SR 2-1.
Overall: Brd 2-2, SR 2-1.
Next: Brainerd at Rocori 7:15 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 15.
CONRAD ENGSTROM may be reached at 218-855-5861 or conrad.engstrom@brainerddispatch.com. Follow on Twitter at www.twitter.com/the_rad34.
