PREP GIRLS BASKETBALL: Panthers hand Pipestone Area first loss
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MARSHALL - The Pipestone Area Arrows entered Saturday’s contest against Tracy-Milroy-Balaton with a perfect 21-0 record. They were averaging 61 points per game and had only been held under 50 minutes twice all season.
The Panthers, on the other hand, had only given up 60 or more points in game once all season. As the old saying goes, “defense wins championships.” TMB’s stout defense held Pipestone Area to 42 points, as the Panthers handed the Arrows their first loss of the season 54-42.
“We fought. We knew Pipestone was a great time,” TMB coach Derek Ashbaugh said. “They are having a heck of a season. I thought the girls fought hard. Defensively we did a heck of a job. We did a good job on the glass. We held them to one shot most of the night.”
TMB jumped out to a 6-1 lead before the Arrows settled in and went on a 8-0 run to take a 9-6 lead. The Panthers took the lead for good after Gabbie Gervais knocked down a 3-pointer to give the Panthers a 12-10 lead. Gervais’ 3-pointer started a 15-4 run for the Panthers as they opened up a 24-14 lead. The 10-point deficit was the largest lead the Arrows had faced all season.
The Arrows closed out the first half on a 6-2 run to trim TMB’s lead to 26-20 at the half.
In the second half the Arrows cut TMB’s lead to 37-36 and had all the momentum on their side. TMB’s Kaylee Kirk silenced the Arrow crowd, when she drove the lane and got fouled on her made layup. After Kirk knocked down the free throw to complete the 3-point play the Panthers never looked back. Following Kirk’s 3-point play the Panthers outscored the Arrows 14-6 to close out the game.
Kirk finished the game with 21 points,. seven assists, five rebounds and three steals. Sydney Lanoue scored 15 points and grabbed six rebounds. Gervais finished the game with 10 points. Evelyn Dolan grabbed 10 rebounds.
Sidney Karbo finished the game with just three points. She made her presence felt all afternoon on the defensive end. Karbo finished with four blocks and three steals, while making every entry pass into the post a challenge.
“Sidney has really been coming on in the last month,” Ashbaugh said. “She does a lot of little things for us. We ask her to play post defense and she’s been a really good shot blocker. She took a charge in the game and a lot of shot blockers don’t like doing that. She deflected some passes. It’s hard to get the ball into the post with her length. She been playing phenomenally which has really helped us rise up our game. She’s a huge cog with what we do defensively and she’s really versatile.”
The Panthers will travel to Dawson on Tuesday to take on the Dawson-Boyd Blackjacks.
“We just have to continue playing this way,” Ashbaugh said. “We played really good defensively in our last game. We played really good defensively today. We need to make sure we continue to play defense that way. On offense we need to be a little more patient. We just need to keep building towards the postseason.”
TMB 26 28-54
Pipestone Area 20 22-42
SCORING: TMB 18-43, 41 percent (Kirk 21; Lanoue 15; Gervais 10)
3-POINT FGS: TMB 4 (Kirk 2; Two with 1).
REBOUNDS: TMB 31 (Dolan 10; Lanoue 6).
ASSISTS: TMB 12 (Kirk 7; Ludeman 2).
STEALS: TMB 10 (Kirk, Karbo 3; Dolan 2).
BLOCKS: TMB 4 (Karbo 4).
FOULS: TMB 15
TURNOVERS: TMB 18