MJH Lions Take on Abilene
by Leslie Baker
December 10, 2007
On Monday, December 3, the Junior High Lady Lions basketball team traveled to Abilene to take on their seventh grade squads. In the varsity contest, the Lions got off to a slow start but ended up victorious with a score of 49 to 12. Scoring for the Lions were Kenzie Zimmerman two, Riley Baker four, Ashlyn Macy, Kara Fraser, Jacy Crosson and Ally Steinbrock six each, Katie Paige nine and Kelsie Paige 10.
The MJH Girls B-Team faced Abilene in a hard fought contest. Abilene had a deep bench, and Minneapolis had to play though being tired with few subs on the bench in the late going. The score at half-time was 16 – 10 in favor of the Lions. The second half proved exciting as the Abilene Cowgirls got within two points of the Lions. “We had to overcome some turn-overs that their press was creating, and find a way to keep scoring in the late minutes of the game,” said Coach Wedel. In the end the Lions came out on top, winning by a score of 24 to 18. Top scorer for the Lady Lions was Casey Carson with 10 points, followed by Vyctorya Allison and Dina Lyne each with six points, and Zimmerman adding in the final two points.
The MJS Girls C-Team got their first win of the season against the Abilene Cowgirls. “Our defense was the best of the year, not allowing the Cowgirls to score at all in the game,” stated Coach Wedel. The Lions took home the victory with a score of 12 – 0. Shayla Fuller, Natalie Saum, and Jackie Conway all contributed four points each in their efforts for the night.
On Thursday, December 6, the Lions hosted the Russell Broncos. The score of the varsity contest was 41 -16. “We talked about having a better start than the Abilene game and the girls responded by defensively being as aggressive as they have all year,” commented Coach Baker. The Lions scored 20 to the Broncos zero in the first quarter and then switched to a half court defense and made the score 30 to zero by half time. High scorer for the game was Kelsie Paige with 14. Scoring 13, shooting three for three from behind the arc, was Fraser. Other scorers were Crosson two, Steinbrock four, and Macy eight.
The MJH Lady Lions B-team took on the Russell Broncos in yet another close competition this season. Neither the Lions nor the Broncos could manage to do much scoring in the first two periods, with a half-time score of 6-5 favoring the Lions. In the second half the Lions edged away from the Broncos, outscoring them in both the third and fourth quarters. “We really turned it on when we had to this game and outscored Russell by 9-2 in the last quarter. The girls were not going to give them any chance to make a late game rally and steal this one away from us,” commented Coach Wedel. The Lions ended up on top with a final score of 19 – 9. High scorer for the Lady Lions was Carson with 11 points. Zimmerman added four points, and Allison and Lyne each had two points.
The MJH C-team lost to the Russell Broncos in a controlled scrimmage by a score of 4 – 12. Since no officials showed up for the game, the coaches from both teams ended up calling the game from the sidelines. “The girls handled everything so well. Russell played us in a man-to-man defense the whole game, and I thought the C-team really showed some improvement since our last time facing a man defense,” stated Coach Wedel. The only two scorers for the game were Conway and Fuller, having two points each.
