(December 9th, 2014) – It’s been a rough year for the varsity girls of Stryker.
After getting positively blown out in their first two games of the season, they suffered an 11 point loss to Hilltop to drop them to 0-3. However, they were finally able to put one in the win column after visiting the Montpelier Lady Locos.
The contest was a hard fought one on both sides. Taking an early 10-7 lead at the end of the first period, a 2 point second quarter left the Lady Panthers down 16-12. Coming out of halftime, however, Montpelier had it’s own scoring drought, only managing 3 points in the third quarter. Stryker took advantage, tying up the game at 19-19 heading into the final quarter of play. It’s here that the Panthers shined their brightest, outscoring Montpelier 13-8 to earn a 32-27 victory on the Locomotives’ home court.
Stryker relied heavily on freshman Haley Doehrmann, who scored 13 points in the win. Drilling 2 three-pointers on the night, she had a mixed evening shooting the ball, also going 1 for 6 on her free throws. Taylor Haines, a sophomore, made the team’s only other three-point field goal, as she put up 10 points against the Locomotives. Audra Rupp added 5 points as well.
Montpelier’s Hannah Blake led all scorers with 21 points, single-handedly willing her team through this game. She hit 5 threes on her way to accomplishing this feat. Senior Baylee Hageman provided the remaining 6 points for the Locos, meaning that no other Montpelier girl contributed to the team’s offensive output. Haley Suffel did make a single trip to the free throw line, but she missed both of her attempts.
Both teams suffered from shooting woes from the charity stripe, though. Montpelier went 6 for 12 from the line while only having 3 players making attempts. Stryker did a much better job of getting to the line, earning 20 extra point attempts, but failed to convert most of those trips into points. The Lady Panthers were 7 for 20, or 35% from the line.
The turnover margin evened out through the course of the game. Stryker turned the ball over just 12 times, a surprising statistic for a team that relies so heavily a younger, less experienced players. Montpelier was also able to limit their turnovers to 12, though, with as much experience as they have on their roster, that is to be expected.
The Lady Panthers, despite all of the growing pains they are going through, found a way to win this game. The Locos, on the other hand, reverted back to putting all of their eggs into the Blake-Hageman basket. They need another player to establish herself as a consistent scorer if they want to have a successful season.
