Late Winside rally spells defeat for Lady Cards

RANDOLPH — The Randolph Lady Cardinals still seek their first win after dropping both outings at their own holiday tournament last week.

Randolph (0-8) fell 61-19 to Stuart and then dropped a narrow, 32-27 decision to Winside as they head into action this week to tipoff the 2022 portion of the schedule.

Mal Vallejo had eight points and Erin Engel snared 11 rebounds against Stuart while Ariel Fye (12 points) and Eva Bermel (seven rebounds, four steals) paced Randolph against Winside.

Fye said that the tournament was “rough,” but she felt the Lady Cardinals went out on the court and gave their best efforts despite the results.

“We have quite a few girls who are half injured and so they are still playing even when not at 100 percent,” Fye said. “It was just rough. I think we are definitely out there trying our best and doing what we can do with what we have.

“Defense is definitely our strong suit and what we have to focus on the most. But we have to know how to run an offense and to know what to do when you get the ball. We’re trying and giving the effort.”

Randolph coach Marcus Pappenhausen admits the offense continues to have issues with ball control and finishing possessions.

“We still struggled offensively and taking care of the ball during the tournament,” Pappenhausen said. “We need to continue to have better court vision and be able to get our teammates open to make some easy passes and make better decisions with the ball. Defensively we need to get tougher and put more pressure on the ball. Then finish each possession by getting rebounds.”

Pappenhausen said the team worked more man-to-man defense during the tournament and hopes to do more of that going forward.

“We have been hit with the injury bug and we are running short on numbers, but we need to keep fighting and playing hard,” he said. “I am proud of the effort so far but just need to keep playing hard and enjoying the moment.”

Randolph faces Elkhorn Valley and Creighton on back-to-back nights beginning Thursday.

“We wish we can pull off a win – especially against Winside,” Fye said. “We needed it to mentally keep going, so that was a tough loss. I wish we had a little more natural basketball skill than what we all do just so we could please more people.

“We need to slow down because we rush too much. Half of the time we don’t get an offense set up before a shot goes up and that’s a killer.”

Stuart 22 12 13 14 — 61

Randolph 8 5 3 3 — 19

SCORING Randolph – Mal Vallejo, 8; Ariel Fye, 4; Emma Munter, 3; Erin Engel, 2; Ryanne Winkelbauer, 2.

REBOUNDS Randolph – Erin Engel, 11; Ariel Fye, 4; Eva Bermel, 3; Emma Munter, 3; Jessa Backer, 1; Jacey Bartels, 1; Rylee Thelen, 1.

ASSISTS Randolph - Erin Engel, 2; Emma Munter, 1; Mal Vallejo, 1.

STEALS Randolph – Eva Bermel, 2; Erin Engel, 1; Emma Munter 1; Ryanne Winkelbauer, 1.

Winside 12 4 5 11 — 32

Randolph 5 9 9 4 — 27

SCORING Randolph – Ariel Fye, 12; Jessa Backer, 7; Erin Engel, 4; Eva Bermel, 2; Mal Vallejo, 2.

REBOUNDS Randolph – Eva Bermel, 7; Erin Engel, 7; Jessa Backer, 5; Emma Munter, 5; Ariel Fye, 3; Jacey Bartels, 1; Ryanne Winkelbauer, 1.

ASSISTS Randolph – Mal Vallejo, 4; Erin Engel, 1; Ariel Fye, 1.

STEALS Randolph – Eva Bermel, 4; Jessa Backer, 1; Jacey Bartels, 1; Emma Munter, 1; Ryanne Winkelbauer, 1.

BLOCKS Randolph – Erin Engel, 1; Emma Munter, 1.