Photo by Chris Drummond Canby guard Braelyn Merritt (11) driving to the paint against MCC forward Seanna Swenson (21) in the Lancers’ 44-38 win over the Rebels at Southwest Minnesota State University Saturday morning.

MARSHALL — The Canby girls basketball team defeated the Murray County Central Rebels, 44-38, at Southwest Minnesota State Saturday morning.

The Lancers started the game on a 15-6 run, led by Brynn Kockelman’s solid outside shooting. Kockelman posted a game-high 17 points and played all 36 minutes.

“It helped that we started strong,” Kockelman said. “My teammates saw me open and I was able to knock down some shots.”

The Rebels were able to stay close in the game by dominating the rebounds and because of the Lancers’ inability to make free throws in the first half.

Despite this, the Lancers would take a 5-point lead into the half, 24-19.

The Rebels made a brief run in the second half to cut the deficit to 2, but that was as close as the Rebels would get. The Rebels had many opportunities to tie or take the lead but couldn’t take advantage.

Free throw shooting was the difference in the game. The Rebels couldn’t convert in the second half and the Lancers did. The Lancers finished 12-23 from the line and the Rebels finished 8-15, missing quite a few late in the contest.

Paige Nelson hit two clutch free throws to give the Lancers the cushion needed to pull off the victory. Nelson had 9 points in the game.

Kortney Leppke finished with 7 points,a game-high eight rebounds, and three steals.

“I always focused on rebounding the ball because that’s my job,” Leppke said. “On defense, I’m always like, ‘I gotta go get the ball.’ On offense, I take what is there and if it is not, I get it out to my shooters.”

“Defensively, once we cleaned up the backside boards, we were able to limit them to one-and-done,” Lancers head coach Jeff Thovson said. “Early on, we missed a lot of free throws but down the stretch, Paige Nelson was able to hit a couple. I trust Nelson at the line in those moments. [It’s] not going to rattle her too much.”

Seanna Swenson and Casey Miller led the Rebels in scoring with 10 points apiece, Swenson had six rebounds as well and Miller played the entire contest. Mary Lou McNab had 4 points and a team-high seven rebounds.

“I think we knew that this was going to be an even match and we were excited about the opportunity,” Rebels head coach Lucas Freeman said. “I thought Canby shot the ball well in the first half. At halftime, I thought we made adjustments and were able to execute them. I thought the game came down to free throws. We didn’t make enough and Canby did. We just didn’t capitalize on enough of our opportunities.”

The MCC Rebels will play next Tuesday when they face off against Jackson County Central Huskies, and the Canby Lancers will travel to Renville on Monday to face off against the Renville County West Jaguars.

Both games will tip off at 7:15 p.m.