BB Basketball: Second half surge comes too late

Mac Bassett scored a game-high 22 points  (photo by Jim Lindquist)

The Tigers outscored Owatonna 36-22 in the second half of Tuesday night's non-conference game in Owatonna but they never could make up for a nightmare of a first half in a 52-51 loss to their Section 1 rivals.

"We are still struggling to put a complete game together," Tiger coach Shane Wyandt said. "At the beginning of the year our offense was clicking pretty well in most games but the defense was inconsistent.

"I've been encouraged by our team defense the last couple of games but our offense has been inconsistent."

The offense really had its troubles in the first half against the Huskies. A feisty and physical Owatonna defense forced the visitors into 14 first half turnovers and when they did get shots, they didn't fall. The Tigers had a season-low 15 points at intermission and trailed by the same number at 30-15.

"We challenged them as individuals and as a team at half time and they responded," Wyandt said. "We still did not execute nearly as well as we wanted to but our effort and toughness were drastically improved and that gave us a chance to come back...It just ended up being a little too much to come back from."

Farmington dominated the second period and still had a chance in the final minute, trailing by three points with 11 seconds to play. Mac Bassett connected for a late two for the final points of the night.

"I'm very proud of the guys effort in the second half on the road in a game like this," Wyandt said.

"There was certainly was no guarantee of making a three at the end. I think Mac got caught up in the moment.... In a game like that you can point to a hundred things besides that which could've made the difference."

Bassett carried most of the offensive load for the Tigers, finishing with a game-high 22 points. Eli Rockett had nine points and a team-high nine rebounds. Darren Beenken added six points and eight boards.

Farmington has its final tune-up before next week's Missota Conference opener Saturday at North St. Paul.

"It is my hope that we can learn a lot about ourselves from the Owatonna game and start to put full games together with the kind of effort we had in the second half," Wyandt said.

Girls Hockey: Tigers end skid, blank Stars 2-0

Maddie Bowe recorded her second shutout of the season (photo by Jim Lindquist)

The Tigers snapped their eight-game losing string in style Tuesday night with a solid 2-0 win over Holy Angels Thursday night at Richfield Arena.

The goals didn't come often or easy but some quality play in the defensive zone and a good night in net by goalkeeper Maddie Bowe proved more than enough to give Farmington (2-12-1) its first conference win in five tries.

" Our past five games we have either outshot or matched our opponents shots on net but we have been outscored 14-6," coach Jon Holmes said. "So the positive there is that we have been doing a much better job getting the puck to the net... but we were just not scoring and we were allowing too many goals.

"We made a switch in lines three games ago to try and give us a more defensive approach and that switch has paid off with us only giving up four goals... If we can keep our defense going and somehow find a way to keep the twine moving we should be looking much more solid than the first half of the year."

The visitors outshot the Stars 11-2 in the first period but didn't score until Grace Gavin notched her team-high fifth goal of the year in the second. Haleigh Zwart and Megan Stivers assisted on the eventual game-winner.

Michaela Tonsgaer (from Haley Doll) found the net later in the second period to close out the night's scoring.

The pesky Tiger defense limited Holy Angels to just 12 shots for the night and kept the puck in the Stars end of the rink most of the night.Bowe registered her second shutout of the season.

The Tigers are hoping to continue their quality play next Tuesday when they look for their first home win of the season when Northfield comes to Schmitz-Maki Arena for a Missota Conference tilt. The Raiders scored a 3-2 win when the two teams met Dec. 4 in Northfield.

Boys Hockey: Stars rally to defeat Tigers 5-3

Justin Novak's third period power play goal gave the Tigers 3-2 lead (photo by Jim Lindquist)

Farmington coach Keith Revels may be only half kidding when he wonders whether his team would be better off playing two halves instead of three periods.

For the fourth straight game the Tigers saw a third period slip away in a 5-3 loss to perennial Missota Conference power Holy Angels Thursday night at Schmitz-Maki Arena.

"Another heart-breaker," Revels said, "but I feel like we made some positive steps in our game. We have to move forward and build on a pretty solid effort."

With the loss the Tigers fell to 4-6-1 overall and 0-2-1 in conference play. The Stars are 3-4-1; 1-0 in league games.

Holy Angels doubled up the home team in shots on goal (32-15) over the first two periods but the Tigers headed into the final frame with a 2-1 lead thanks to goals by Justin Hyytinen and Kevin Olund and some quality net play by goalie Gage Overby.

Grant Hauswirth assisted on both of the Farmington goals.

The Stars tied things up with a power play score early in the third period but a minute later Justin Novak scored on the power play to give Farmington back the lead at 3-2.

The Tigers outshot the visitors 15-14 over the final 17 minutes but the Stars went on to score three times, including an open-netter as time expired.

Overby finished his hectic night with a season-high 41 saves.

"It was encouraging to see us respond," Revels said. "We never gave up and we hope to continue playing that way starting Saturday."

Farmington travels to Simley for a non-conference game Saturday afternoon at Veterans Arena in Inver Grove Heights.

Girls BB: Sabers end Tiger end two-game streak

Sofia Chadwick 8 points, 7 rebounds, 6 assists, 3 steals (photo by Jim Lindquist)

Shakopee opened the second half on an 11-0 run that broke open a two-point game and gave the Sabers a 57-43 win over Farmington Thursday night at Tiger Gym.

The loss snapped a modest two-game win streak for the Tigers who were coming off a consolation championship performance at the Monticello Holiday Tournament.

"Basically, the girls will need to toughen up, both physically and mentally, for us to compete in a very good Missota Conference," coach Sondra Chadwick said. "There will be no 'off'' nights as each team is good."

Farmington (2-11) led 6-0 and 8-2 at the outset, but by halftime the visitors had pulled ahead by a basket at 28-26.

"We knew they (Shakopee) would pressure us on the perimeter and we did a good job of being patient and taking care of the ball," Chadwick said. "They were keying in on Sofia (Chadwick) but when that happens, we need to recognize that it opens up other shooters and they need to knock down the shots."

Alicia Hett had seven points and Jordan Homeier six to lead the first half offense. Chadwick, the team's leading scorer (16.3 points per game), didn't regsiter a field goal in the first half against the badgering Shakopee defense.

The first four minutes of the second half were pivotal. The Sabers hit five of their first seven shots and forced several Tiger turnovers while building a lead that would eventually reach 16 points.

"We obviously weren't mentally ready to come out for the second half," coach Chadwick said. "We can't afford to let a team make a run like than and expect to come back."

Farmington finished with balanced scoring--just not enough of it. Hett finished with a team-high nine-points while Chadwick and Jordyn Homeier each tallied eight. Syndey Speer and Kaitlin Gorden scored six apiece. Chadwick led in assists (7), rebounds (6) and steals (3).

The Tigers get back on the court next Tuesday when they travel to Chaska for a Missota Conference game.

Tiger Scoreboard: January 4, 2013

Girls Hockey
Holy Angels 2  Farmington 0
Boys Swimming and DivingFarmington 97 Northfield 81

Boys Basketball
Owatonna 52 Farmington 51

Girls Basketball
Shakopee 57 Farmington 43

Boys Hockey
Holy Angels 5 Farmington 3