PREP GIRLS BASKETBALL: LQPV uses strong offense to cruise past MCC, 76-54
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MARSHALL - The Murray County Central girls basketball team had a tough task in front of them on Saturday morning when they squared off against the second-ranked team in Section 3A in Lac qui Parle Valley. The Rebels were able to hang tough in the opening minutes, but the sharp-shooting Eagles quickly caught fire from beyond the arc and never looked back as LQPV defeated MCC 76-54 on the campus of Southwest Minnesota State University.
MCC coach Patrick Freeman credited LQPV's ability to find multiple ways to score the basketball and felt they did a good job of finding shot opportunities of their own but just couldn't convert.
"Lac qui Parle Valley is a really good basketball team and they shot extremely well," Freeman said. "Offensively, I thought it was one of our best games getting shot locations and being able to attack off of the dribble. We just didn't convert on a lot of shots; I think the most disappointing is when you give up 76 points it's hard to win a lot of ballgames."
MCC was able to hold a slim lead to start, taking a 7-6 lead but LQPV quickly responded with a 12-3 run to take an 18-10 lead before a 3-pointer by the Eagles made it a double-digit advantage midway through the first half. That would be all LQPV needed to hold the lead for the rest of the game, as the Eagles continued to hit on their outside shots and take their largest lead of the first half at 41-21 with 3:50 to go before taking a 42-23 lead at halftime.
Freeman said their biggest adjustment going into the break was trying to take away the dribble penetration and force shots from beyond the arc.
"We were trying to take away the easy penetration points and force more perimeter shots, especially since they're so athletic they can score in multiple ways," Freeman said. "We're still trying to work on different presses, we tried to show a little bit of zone and it wasn't very successful because they shot the ball extremely well."
Just like they did in the first half, the sharp-shooting Eagles continued to dial it up from long distance to make it 54-28 with 13:49 left. The Rebels would start to get in a rhythm of their own on offense in the early stages of the second half, as the 3-pointers started to fall for MCC before a pair of free throws by Shelby Christensen cut the deficit to 19 with 5:39 to go.
Unfortunately for the Rebels, that would be the closest they would get, as LQPV went on another small run to take a 72-47 lead with four minutes left en route to a 76-54 victory.
Christensen and Montana Beckmann led the way for the Rebels with 10 points each while Ines Rios Rus added nine and Sam Larson had seven. Rios Rus led in rebounds with seven while Beckmann led in steals with four.
Freeman felt they did a good job of attacking the lane and drawing the double team before finding the open teammate in the second half.
"I thought we did a nice job attacking and making two girls guard us and we were able to hit the open shot," Freeman said.
MCC will face Heron Lake-Okabena/Fulda on Thursday at 7:15 p.m.
LQPV 76, MCC 54
LQPV 42 34 - 76
MCC 23 31 - 54
SCORING: MCC (Christensen 3-13, 3-3 10; Beckmann 4-9, 1-2 10; Rios Rus 4-8, 0-0 9; Larson 3-7, 0-0 7; Hamman 2-6, 2-2 6; Engbarth 2-2, 0-0 4; Clarke 1-3, 0-0 3; Muecke 1-6, 0-0 3; B. Schmitz 1-2, 0-0 2).
REBOUNDS: MCC 21 (Rios Rus 7; Hamman, Beckmann 4).
ASSISTS: MCC 3 (B. Schmitz, Rios Rus, Christensen 1).
STEALS: MCC 12 (Beckmann 4; Christensen, Engbarth 2).
BLOCKS: MCC 5 (Rios Rus 4; Clarke 1).