Cardinals bounce back with two big wins
The Staples-Motley girls basketball team regained a share of the conference lead with two wins, beating Detroit Lakes 55-46 on Jan. 24 and reversing their earlier result with Pequot Lakes with a 67-51 victory on Jan. 26.
Coach Craig Wolhowe said the team rebounded from their earlier loss to play well enough to win against Detroit Lakes.
Facing Pequot Lakes, which had beaten them by 19 just five days earlier, the Cardinals played their best game of the year.
“I was so proud of our kids and how they played. We showed that we can be a top tier team when we compete for 36 minutes,” said Wolhowe. “I felt we played excellent team basketball and we were unselfish making the extra passes.”
Those extra passes resulted in 18 assists on their 24 made baskets. Amber Robben led the charge with 11 assists. In addition, the team made 12 of 13 free throws.
Wolhowe said the Cardinals struggled with the Pequot post play in the first game. “We made some adjustments to have the perimeter players collapse on their posts, which helped,” he said, adding that they still need to get better at rebounding against a bigger team. Wolhowe said Kaitlyn Longworth was a big boost off the bench to combat the Pequot Lakes height.
The team shot well, hitting 54 percent from three point range, with Claire Wolhowe hitting four of five and Sam Schimpp, Chelsea Nanik and Ashley Smith hitting their only three point attempts of the game.
They were also hot inside the arc, with Nanik making four of five and Kelsie Weite hitting six of nine.
With the win, the Cardinals moved into a tie for first place in the Mid State Conference with two tough conference games remaining. They play at Detroit Lakes on Tuesday, Feb. 7 and host a resurgent Crosby-Ironton team on Friday, Feb. 17.
Team results
Staples-Motley 55, Detroit Lakes 46
Scoring: Claire Wolhowe 16, Kelsie Weite 15, Ashley Smith 7, Sam Schimpp 7, Chelsea Nanik 6, Amber Robben 4
Staples-Motley 67, Pequot Lakes 51
Scoring: Wolhowe 18, Weite 13, Nanik 13, Robben 10, Schimpp 5, Kaitlyn Longworth 5, Smith 3
