The Central Lakes College Raiders pushed their winning streak to four games with a 70-49 win over the the St. Cloud Technical College Cyclones on the second day of the CLC Invite Saturday, Dec. 22.
The Raiders earned a sweep of two matchups with the Cyclones as they won at St. Cloud 67-48 Nov. 21.
With their fourth straight win, the Raiders are off to a 7-3 start with games remaining against Minnesota West and Ridgewater Jan. 4-5 before they start Northern Division play Jan. 9.
One would think the team is riding high right now but the Raiders are still trying to find themselves offensively as they head into the holiday break.
CLC shot just 31 percent from the field, and 17 percent from behind the arc, Saturday. The Raiders scored more than 20 points in just one quarter-the first-as they led 22-10, but they let the Cyclones back into the game in the third quarter by shooting just 21 percent.
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Paige Wallevand and Kali Mammenga each totaled 14 points, Naomi Lane finished with 12 and Maggie Fellerman 11.
As bad as the Raiders shot from the field, they played solid defense, holding the Cyclones to just 32 percent shooting.
"When our offense isn't going so well, defense is where we pick it up," Wallevand said. "It kind of brings momentum. If you play good defense, you get more steals and more opportunities so we have been focusing on our defense the most.
"We like to get out and run and that is how we get most of our points is on the fast break."
The Raiders outscored the Cyclones in transition 17-5 and they also dominated the boards 73-49. Wallevand grabbed 12 rebounds, Mammenga 10.
"As bad as our shooting percentage was, we did get 70 points in both of the games this weekend," said CLC coach Brian Voigt. "Defense is what is going to allow you to keep getting victories. In basketball, you are going to have bad shooting nights. It doesn't help when everyone has it on the same night, but it is one of those things where our defense can be so tough that it is hard to pass through and we create a lot of turnovers and layups from that."
The Raiders are off until another 2-day tournament at CLC Jan. 4 and 5. That rest will be helpful in a few different ways.
"It is going to be nice to have a bit of a break, especially after playing volleyball too," Wallevand said. "It has been a long time practicing and playing, and it will be a nice break."
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With a full 12-player roster, the Raiders have been able to scrimmage full court and have been spending time in practice working at full speed. That will change in the second half to study more film and game plan for Northern Division opponents.
"The break will be be huge," Voigt said. "One of the things I have learned from working with (CLC men's) coach (Jim) Russell is that in the beginning of the season you are getting after it in practice and getting up and down the court a lot and with our depth we have been doing that. We don't really take time to do our full preparation that we will be doing during the conference season."
St. Cloud 10 13 12 14-49
Central Lakes 22 18 11 19-70
ST. CLOUD
Rachel Vreeland 7, Kiara Coops 12, Maria Stokes 1, Shania Nahring 13, Abbie Wuertz 16. FG 19-59 (32 percent), FT 4-27 (15 percent). 3-point 7-30 (23 percent).
CENTRAL LAKES
Lillee Hardee 3, Katelyn Waytashek, Kezia Rahier, Kelsie Weite 3, Liz Anderson 9, Maggie Fellerman 11, Sam Schimpp, Tiffany Johnson, Lindsay Hendrickson 4, Paige Wallevand 14, Naomi Lane 12, Kali Mammenga 14. FG 23-75 (31 percent), FT 18-26 (69 percent). 3-point 6-35 (17 percent). Overall: 7-3. Next: host Minnesota West 6 p.m. Jan. 4.
