Girls hoops: Cardinals drop first game of season

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By The Chippewa Herald
Saturday, December 20, 2008 12:52 AM CST

Chippewa Falls had trouble starting up their game against conference foe Eau Claire North in a 54-33 loss on Friday.

The Cards (3-1, 2-1 Big Rivers Conference) managed just three points in the first quarter and eight in the second and were down 29-11 at half.

“We were thinking we’d go through some growing pains with an inexperienced team,” Chi-Hi coach Jeff Dahl said. “We showed it tonight.”

He added that it didn’t help that this was his team’s fourth game of the year while North (5-1, 2-0 BRC) had five games under its belt.

The Husky defense kept the Cardinal’s leading scorers to nine points, which Heather Hodnett and Megan Schnobrich both had.

North’s leader was Sam Price with 19 points.

“She is just a general on the floor,” Dahl said. “She creates things for other players.”

Chi-Hi is off until Dec. 29.

Northwestern 56, Bloomer 39

In Bloomer, struggles from the 3-point line cost the Blackhawks.

Bloomer (1-6, 13 Heart O’ North) went 3-of-17 on threes. Sabra Meinen and Allie Schwartz each had 10 to lead the Blackhawks.

Lindsay Taipale had the most points for the Tigers (5-2, 4-0 HON) with 20 while Anna Morgan contributed 14.

Thursday

Thorp 42, McDonell 36

At McDonell, the Macks were down as much as 12-1 in the first quarter and the late rally fell short to the Cardinals in West Cloverbelt play.

“That’s been the story of our season,” McDonell coach Shannon Tanzer said. “We can’t start out like that. They all picked up their intensity later in the game.

“We had three intense quarters with Osseo-Fairchild, but then lost it that intensity in the fourth.”

With Breanna Jenneman out with an injury, the Macks (1-5, 1-4 WCC) got a career night out of Becca Zander. Zander led the team with 12 points in the loss. Mollie Meagher chipped in nine points.

Thorp (4-2, 4-1 WCC) was paced by Lindy Bergman’s 14 points.

Stanley-Boyd 47, Cadott 27

In Cadott, a quick start gave the Orioles the 20-point win and their first victory of the year.

Stanley-Boyd (1-6, 1-4 West Cloverbelt Conference) outscored Cadott (0-7, 0-6 WCC) 16 to 5 in the first and 10 to 5 in the second.

“They came out a lot stronger,” Cadott coach Bobbi Marion said. “We did well in the second half, but we were too far behind in the first half.”

Stanley-Boyd’s Zoey Czech had the most points for the Orioles on 12 while Laken Geissler’s six led her squad.

Cornell 43, New Auburn 39

In New Auburn, Cornell’s Amanda Smith had a monster game as she led the Chiefs to their first win.

Besides the 23 points, she also came up big in the fourth on a few threes — traditional or otherwise.

New Auburn (2-5, 0-3 East Lakeland Conference) had a one-point lead with 1:43 to go, but took a poor shot. Cornell (1-3, 1-2 ELC) took the ball down the floor and turned it back over.

The Trojans then tried a baseball pass the length of the court that failed and gave Cornell the ball again.

Smith then got the hoop and the harm to put her team up.

“Smith got that three-point play and that was the game,” New Auburn coach Bill Peterson said. “Then they just made their free throws.”

Chiefs coach Jason Onsager said the win, his team’s first of the season, was needed going into the holidays.

“We’ll be having a break for Christmas and New Year’s. Right around New Year’s, we’ll be practicing every day, except for the holiday. We don’t play again until Jan. 6,” he said.

Marissa Baldry had a team-high 16 points for New Auburn.