The Central Lakes College women's basketball team returned from its Christmas break hoping to break out of their shooting woes as they faced Minnesota West in the CLC Winter Classic Friday, Jan. 4 in Brainerd.
Paige Wallevand scored 21 points, including the first four of the game, as the Raiders built a nine-point first quarter advantage. The Blue Jays cut that margin to three at the end of the quarter, and a five-minute scoring drought from CLC in the second quarter proved to be too much to overcome with Minnesota West winning 73-63.
The score was almost a carbon copy of the CLC-Minnesota West game from December where the Raiders fell by a 72-63 score.
Kelsie Weite led the Raiders in rebounding from the point guard position with 14.
ADVERTISEMENT
The Saturday, Jan. 5 game against Ridgewater will close out the non-division portion of the Raiders' season. CLC will Travel to play the defending Northern Division champion Northland Wednesday, Jan. 9.
--- --- --- --- ---
Minnesota West 73, Raiders 63
- Key: Raiders shoot just 34 percent from the floor
- Overall: CLC 7-4
- Next: Central Lakes hosts Ridgewater 4 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 5
--- --- --- --- ---
Liz Anderson and Sam Schimpp are both returning players from last year's team that made it into the region tournament before losing to the Pioneers in the opening round.
They had that challenge Friday, facing a Minnesota West team that is the defending Southern Division champion.
"I think it makes it a little easier because we kind of know what to expect, but we couldn't get anything to fall tonight, that is the gist of it," Anderson said of facing the Blue Jays for a second time. "We couldn't shoot and we couldn't pass."
Both teams struggled shooting as Minnesota West shot 39 percent, but hit two key 3-pointers in the fourth quarter to extend the lead. The Raiders shot 34 percent for the game and were just 4-25 from behind the arc.
ADVERTISEMENT
"Transition buckets are a big key for us early so that we know we can get trust in our shots," said Anderson.
Schimpp added: "They (Minnesota West) also know what we are doing and they know how we can play. Turnovers also really hurt us. that was a big part."
A big difference in the year's squad is that the Raiders have depth and can push the tempo throughout the game against teams that aren't as deep. But they will have to dig deeper when facing the elite teams in the division, such as Northland and Rainy River.
"We also realize that we have to give it that extra push if we want to be successful and that we need to trust each other," Schimpp said.
Said Anderson: "I think that this will ultimately help us in that we know that we can come back if we need to," Anderson said. "We just need to push it a little further.
"I think it will be tough, but if we pull our heads out of our butts and reach our full potential, I think we will be fine."
Minnesota West 14 24 12 23-73
ADVERTISEMENT
Central Lakes 17 10 16 20-63
MINNESOTA WEST
M'Kayla Mike 8, Shelby Pourier 6, Lexie Ramsey 12, Emily Schroer 14, Emily Shaffer 15, Avery Van Roekel 14, Ashlyn Rosenberg 4. FG 27-69 (39 percent), FT 14-19 (74 percent). 3-point 5-14 (36 percent).
CENTRAL LAKES
Kelsie Weite 9, Liz Anderson 8, Maggie Fellerman 4, Sam Schimpp 4, Tiffany Johnson, Lindsay Hendrickson 5, Paige Wallevand 21, Naomi Lane 7, Kali Mammenga 5. FG 26-76 (34 percent), FT 7-10 (70 percent). 3-point 4-25 (16 percent). Overall: 7-4
For more photos go to https://bit.ly/2Rw8KAB .
ADVERTISEMENT
