Jordan Bridges 9 points, 12 rebounds
(photos by Jim Lindquist)
New Prague used some good shooting and physical defense to outlast the Tigers 45-42 in a battle of Missota Conference contenders Friday, Jan. 28, at New Prague.
The loss was just the second of the season (in 16 games) for Farmington who dropped out of a first place tie with Shakopee in the conference standings with the loss. The Tigers are tied with New Prague and Chanhassen at 5-2 for second place after the first round of league play.
"Their aggressiveness and physical play really affected us," Tiger coach Jason Berg said, "especially around the basket....We were able to get some good looks but we were not able to finish."
The Trojan defense forced several first half turnovers that turned into points on the way to a 22-15 lead. Of the nine New Prague field goals in the first 18 minutes, four came directly as a result of Farmington miscues.
"When we got our defense set, we did a pretty good job of contesting shots," Berg said, "but the points off turnovers hurt us."
The Trojans started to pull away early in the second half, building a 12-point lead before the visitors started to whittle down the deficit. With 90 seconds to play New Prague led by three when Taylor Meyer hit one of two free throws to make it a two-point game.
After the Trojans made a free throw to go back up by three, Meyer scored on a driving lay-up to pull her team within a point. New Prague scored the clinching basket with 14 seconds left off an out-of-bounds play.
The Trojans won the game with their shooting, canning 17 of 37 shots from the field (46 percent), the highest percentage allowed by the Tigers this season. Farmington finished at 34 percent, converting 17 of 37 attempts.
Meyer paced the Farmington offense with 11 points with Jordan Bridges and Elena Koch chipping in with nine apiece. Jamie Kenealy added eight.
The Tigers dominated the glass, owning a 37-22 advantage. Bridges led the way with an even dozen, including six at the offensive end. Meyer added eight and Koch pulled down seven.
The Tigers take a break from their rugged conference schedule with a non-league road game at Rochester Century next Tuesday (Feb. 1) and then jump back into league play Friday at Red Wing.
