BROOKINGS In the aftermath of last weekends sweep in games against Rapid City Central and Rapid City Stevens, Brookings Bobcats head coach Mitch McLagan said he wanted to see his team do a better job of controlling the pace of the game and coming out with more energy.
For three quarters, the Bobcats did just that, hanging with the No. 3 Harrisburg before the Tigers used their defense and a fourth-quarter run to defeat Brookings 50-36 at Bob Jostad Gymnasium on Tuesday night.
When we started the game, we were really good, McLagan said. We jumped on them a little early and threw some things at them. I thought our energy was really good andour kids played with a ton of energy defensively but then we got stagnant, missed a layup or two and they hit a couple of big shots.
The Tigers opened the game by scoring the first five points but Brookings responded by going on a 9-0 run to take a 9-5 lead on Tess Burnss jumper with 2:57 left in the first quarter. Harrisburg came out of a timeout and scored the final seven points of the first quarter to take a 12-9 lead but Brookings hung around throughout the second quarter before going into halftime down 22-20.
The Tigers stretched their lead out to six points midway through the third quarter but the Bobcats battled back and cut the lead down to 31-28 on Alyssa Aslesons 3-pointer with 2:15 left in the third quarter. Harrisburg regrouped and took a 36-30 lead at the end of the fourth quarter and began the final frame with a 12-2 run that gave the Tigers a 50-32 lead on Brynn VanBockerns free throws with 1:34 to play.
The Tigers defense, which had held their opponents to just over 41 points per game coming into Tuesday, did the rest, holding Brookings to six points in the fourth quarter to secure the victory.
After the game, McLagan complimented Harrisburgs for scoring 28 points off the Bobcats 21 turnovers while also lamenting his teams lack of execution down the stretch.
Youre just not going to win games when other teams are scoring 28 points off turnovers, McLagan admitted. Thats who they are. Theyre athletic, theyre long. They take away all driving lanes. If we could get some more ball fakes, that would help us but theyre really good defensively.
Logan Smidt led the Bobcats with 12 points while also grabbing a team-high five rebounds and adding a steal. Macy Even had six points, four rebounds and two steals while Tess Burns had four points and four rebounds and Clara Delbridge had four points and a rebound.
Jaylee Hofer led Harrisburg with 13 points and five rebounds while Makinley Lawrenson had 11 points, four rebounds, two steals and an assist. Abigail Flanagan had nine points, five rebounds, three assists, three steals and a block and VanBockern had seven points, three rebounds and three steals.
The Bobcats shot 35 percent during the game including 4-for-11 (36.4%) on 3-point attempts. Brookings also made all four of its free throws.
The Tigers shot 35 percent in the game including 7-for-25 (28%) on 3-pointers. Harrisburg also made 11-of-14 (78.6%) free throws and out-rebounded the Bobcats 31-27 while committing 15 turnovers.
While McLagan was encouraged with the Bobcats improvement, theyll have another tough task after dropping their sixth straight game to fall to 2-9 on the season.
The Bobcats will travel to top-ranked Mitchell on Saturday afternoon and while they couldnt pull off the upset on Tuesday, McLagan believes his team will be ready for the challenge.
Theyre a different beast, McLagan said of the Kernels. Its going to be a really good opportunity for us to go on the road and have a chance to beat the No. 1 team in the state. Our kids will be ready and theyre going to play hard and give them a battle.
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