20 February 2013

Girls BB: Second half rally comes up short

Sofia Chadwick 12 points, 6 rebounds (photo by Jim Lindquist)
Woulda. Coulda. Shoulda.

If only the Tigers had played the first half of Tuesday night's game at Northfield like they did the second they might have picked up their first Missota Conference win of the season. Instead, they had to settle for a 48-41 loss.

The Raiders used the strong inside presence of their post tandem of Allyson Harris and Anna Pfefferle to build a  33-16 halftime lead that proved too much to overcome for the undersized Tigers.

"I was disappointed in our lack of intensity to start the game," Tiger coach Sondra Chadwick said. 

 "Our plan was to apply pressure throughout the game in hopes of wearing Northfield down.  We succeeded in doing that in the second half, but the first half we were very flat and did not play good defense."

Pfefferle went to the bench with her fourth foul early in the second half and her absence seemed to light a fire under the visitors.

The Tigers amped up their defensive pressure, forcing several turnovers that led to open shots. In one long stretch Northfield went almost eight minutes without scoring. The aroused Farmington defense gave us just 15 points in the second period.

"Had we played the entire game with that level of intensity, the outcome may have been very different," Chadwick said.

The Tigers got back to the final margin of defeat--seven points--a couple of times but could draw no closer.

Eight different Tigers got into the scoring act with Sofia Chadwick leading the way with 12 points. six rebounds, four assists and three steals. Freshman Morgan Mach netted eight points, all in the second half comeback. Abby Gallus added six and Alicia Hett chipped in with five points, seven rebounds and five assists.

Coach Chadwick said she continued to be impressed with the guard play of Hett and Chadwick and was pleased with the play of her bench.

"Morgan (Mach) and Callie Halterman came in and gave us some defensive intensity in the second half," she said.

The Tigers close out their regular season Friday night with a home game against league-leading Chanhassen. Section 1AA post-season play begins next week.