Lady Cardinals struggle against a pair of powerhouses
RANDOLPH — Admittedly, it was a rough week for the Randolph Lady Cardinals girls basketball team.
The girls fell to 0-3 on the young season with two tough defeats to Ponca (62-10) and Laurel-Concord-Coleridge (61-28).
Both are quality teams that the Lady Cardinals acknowledged were going to present a tough challenge.
“Both teams came and out pressured us and we made too many turnovers,” Randolph head coach Marcus Messersmith said. “The girls need to work on taking care of the ball and making better decisions with it. We knew coming into the season that we were going to have a hard time in it, but we keep pushing it in practice so hopefully we will see it get better here soon.”
Against Ponca, Erin Engel led the way with five points while she also set the pace against LCC with eight points and seven rebounds while Jessa Backer pitched in with seven points.
“We seem to still be searching for the right thing to make us go,” Messersmith said. “Our schedule always sets up for a difficult start so the girls need to just keep pushing and keep a positive mindset so that we can improve. We are spending a lot of time talking about taking care of the little things and paying attention to detail which hopefully will lead to better play on the court.”
Sophomore Ella Scott said these games should be taken as learning experiences moving forward.
“Ponca had a lot of tall and aggressive girls, and most teams have a height advantage over us,” Scott said. “We have been talking a lot about doing the little things like boxing out more and hustling up and down the court. It’s about doing the little things first.
“Some of us need to focus on listening to what the coaches say and doing it. They see a lot more things because they are watching it. They can’t play for us. We need to work harder in practice.”
The Lady Cardinals take on Bloomfield on Thursday and then head to Wynot to wrap up the pre-holiday schedule against their rivals.
“We keep talking about with the girls is taking care of the little things so we can see bigger results,” Messersmith said. “My goal for the team as we head in to this last week before the holiday break is to see us start to do these things. I want the girls to see some improvement so that we can carry some positives into the break.”
Scott said the girls need to address the ability to pass at a better efficiency rate and connect on their free throws.
“We did a lot better with those than the nights before, but that should be a muscle memory shot we should get down,” Scott said. “Passing, we stare down where we are passing to, too much and we need to work on more fakes.
“I try to go into every game with a positive outlook because anything can happen.”
SCORING Randolph - Erin Engel, 8; Ella Scott, 6; Mal Vallejo, 6; Jessa Backer, 5; Ariel Fye, 3. LCC – Kinsey Hall, 16; Jordynn Urwiler, 14; Reggan Kuhlman, 10; Lainey Schutte, 6; Rachel Rasmussen, 6; Haley Christensen, 5; Mallory Eriksen, 4.
REBOUNDS Randolph - Erin Engel, 9; Ella Scott, 4; Ariel Fye, 4; Jessa Backer, 2; Eva Bermel, 1; Emma Munter, 1; Mal Vallejo, 1; R Winkelbauer, 1. LCC – Lainey Schutte, 6; Haley Christensen, 4; Kinsey Hall, 3; Jordynn Urwiler, 2; Toni Thompson, 2; Mallory Eriksen, 1; Rachel Rasmussen, 1; Tali Erwin, 1;Avery Hahne, 1; Mollie Schutte, 1; Delaney Johnson, 1; Reggan Kuhlman, 1.
ASSISTS LCC – Kinsey Hall, 4; Haley Christensen, 3; Jordynn Urwiler, 2; Mallory Eriksen, 1. Randolph - Jacie Bartels,1; Mal Vallejo, 1.
STEALS Randolph - Eva Bermel, 1; Jacie Bartels,1; Erin Engel, 1. LCC – Haley Christensen, 4; Kinsey Hall, 3; Mallory Eriksen,
