Girls BB: Buck too much for Tigers

Sofia Chadwick 23 points, 8 rebounds (photo by Jim Lindquist)

Red Wing's Tesha Buck blitzed the Tigers for 41 points as the Wingers beat Farmington 80-66 Thursday night in Red Wing.

The win raised the Wingers' season record to 7-2 and 1-0 in Missota Conference play. Farmington is 0-6; 0-1.

"Without a doubt, she (Buck) is the best player we will face this season," Tiger coach Sondra Chadwick said,  "and whenever we started to make a little run, she’d be right there with a key steal or basket."

Buck wasn't always dominant though. Midway through the first half the Tigers were up 14-10 before Buck began to light things up. She scored Red Wing's final 12 points of the half as the Wingers hit the break with a 36-29 lead.

"They (Red Wing) are currently ranked No. 5 in Class AAA.," Chadwick said. 'They are a very tough team but we came out with a lot of intensity and our girls were hitting their shots."

Red Wing came our hitting on all cylinders after intermission building an 18 point-lead before the feisty Tigers fought back to cut the deficit back to 69-59 with a little over four minutes to play.

Buck's blockbuster performance overshadowed quality outings by several Tiger players. Sofia Chadwick canned six three-pointers on the way to a team-high 23 points. Abby Gallus and Alicia Hett each reached career-highs in scoring with 20 and 16 points respectively.

Alicia Hett career-high 16 points (photo by Jim Lindquist)

Chadwick had eight boards and Hett seven to pace the rebounding effort. Gallus had three assists and Chadwick came up with a pair of steals.

Coach Chadwick said there were many pluses to take away from the road loss, including the team's balanced scoring, its six-for-eight three-point shooting, and its ability to handle the ball against Red Wing's full-court pressure.

"The things we need to continue to focus on are our execution on offense, rebounding and defensive intensity," she said.

"These girls have had a steep learning curve this first part of the season and they are now beginning to look like an experienced varsity squad. They did not back down in this game and kept in it until the end. For us to start with a lead, and play with the level of intensity that we did until the end, I am very proud of these young girls."

Next Tuesday the Tigers host section rival Rochester Century in a non-conference game at Tiger Gym.