Lady Miners drop home opener to Knights
Photos by Chanse Watson/ Catie Sheppard shoots the ball in Wallace’s Thursday game against Lakeside. Though she was active on the court all four quarters, Sheppard failed to register a point in the game.
Kimmie Krous wrestles the ball away from a Lakeland player to give Wallace possession. Krous scored six points in the game, tying Maggie Howard for second most on the night.
Hannah Garitone makes a pass to Kimmie Krous.
Megan Morin puts the ball up over a Lakeside defender. Morin scored two points on the night from two free-throw attempts.
Hayley Oertli put the pressure on a Lakeside player. Oertli led the Lady Miners in scoring with 11 points.
WALLACE — The Wallace girls basketball team (2-3, 0-1 NSC) was probably hoping to walk away with a win for their first game in Kirby Krulitz court this season, but the Lakeside Knights had other plans.
The Lady Miners dropped their home opener Thursday night 33-51 due mostly to a poor showing in the second half.
“I thought we had a good first half, and we just ran out of spunk in the second half,” head coach Nichole Farkas said. “We’ll have to have a little more defensive effort (in future games).”
18 of Wallace’s points came in from a solid first half and they only trailed Lakeside by six going into the second.
This is when the Knights turned on the jets.
Lakeside would extend their lead to ten points and hold that margin over the Miners on and off through most of the third.
By the fourth, Wallace looked to be out of gas and saw their opponents extend their already substantial lead.
Offensive opportunities certainly presented themselves for the home team as they took several shots, but as the clock wound down- shooting percentages went down as well.
Most of the Miner’s offense came from junior Hayley Oertli, who led the team with 11 points (eight in the first half) on the night.
“Hayley Oertli had a great first half,” Farkas stated.
On the defensive side of things, Lakeside simply muscled out the Wallace defenders with strong physical play several time throughout the night.
As the game got closer to the end, effort on the backcheck also regressed.
Farkas stated after the game that, “we’ll be working on (the defensive shortcomings) and regrouping. We’ve got a week before our next game, so we’ll work some things out.”
She was also happy with some of the effort she saw from players who normally do not see much playing time.
“The kids coming in off the bench were scrappy,” she said. “I thought Megan Morin had a good game- she’s been improving steadily throughout the season.”
The Varsity Lady Miners will take to the court next Saturday, Dec. 9 at 7 p.m. when they look for revenge against their Silver Valley rivals- the Kellogg Wildcats.