(photo by Jim Lindquist)
Chanhassen proved to a rude guest Tuesday night, Feb. 8, leaving Tiger Gym with a 53-50 victory over Farmington in a battle of two teams who began the night locked in a four-way tie for first place in the Missota Conference.
"We just played very poorly," a disappointed Tiger coach Jason Berg said. "I'm not sure the reason but we didn't play with much defensive energy for most of the game and we were not focused on offense.
"Having said that, we still had three chances in the last 40 seconds to tie the game."
Turnovers (23), poor free throw shooting (5-14) and missed lay-ups combined to foil the Tigers in their bid to join New Prague and Shakopee atop the conference standings.
A dozen of the turnovers occurred in the first half which saw the the Storm outscore Farmington 29-24.
Chanhassen stayed on top most of the second period with the last Farmington lead coming with 10:32 to play.
"We gave up way too many uncontested jump shots," Berg said. "Most of them came on defensive breakdowns. We had more of those in this game than we had had all year."
Both teams shot 39 percent from the floor but that number was below Farmington's season average and well-above the percentage the Farmington defense had typically allowed.
"That's about 10 percent higher than we usually give up," Berg said, "and they were nine of 13 from the line. There's the difference."
Three Tigers finished in double figures with Elena Koch leding the way with a dozen. Taylor Meyer added 11 and Jordan Bridges 10.
Meyer had another big night on the boards with 14 and also led her team in assists with six. Bridges totaled 11 rebounds and Koch added six along with four steals. Shelby Calhoun hit a pair of three-pointers and handed out three assists.
The Tigers (16-3 overall and 6-3 in the conference) get another chance to get back in the championship hunt when they entertain Shakopee (17-2; 7-2) Friday night at Tiger Gym.
