Girls BB: Long night in Shakopee

Sometimes there are nights that are best forgotten. Friday night's 47-24 Missota Conference loss at Shakopee would probably fit into that category.

Farmington managed just eight first half points on three of 13 shooting from the floor and trailed 16-8 at the halftime break.

"We had open looks but were not knocking our shots down," coach Sondra Chadwick said. "Thankfully our defense kept us in the game. "In the second half Shakopee was more aggressive and we continued our cold shooting."

The Tigers connected on just five of 20 tries from the floor after intermission to finish the night eight of 33 for an anemic 24 percent. They weren't much more successful at the foul line where  they went five of 10.

"Clearly we need to continue working on our shooting percentage if we are going to compete," Chadwick said.

The Tiger coach did say there were some positives to take away from her team's eighth consecutive loss.

"I thought we did a nice job of crashing the boards," Chadwick said, "but right now we are not getting enough players creating offense whether by knocking down outside shots or peneatring to get shots for others."

Sofia Chadwick scored 12 of the Tigers points on five-of-eight shooting and also pulled down four rebounds.

Leah Hammond, making her first start of the season after returning from an ankle injury, scored nine points on a trio of three-pointers. Sydney Speer scored the other three Farmington points.

The Tigers were without the services of second leading scorer Abby Gallus who missed the contest due to illness.

Next up for the Tigers is a Missota Conference match-up with Chaska Tuesday night at Tiger Gym. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30.

Boys BB: Sabers win on buzzer-beater in OT

Mac Bassett 17 points (photo by Jim Lindquist)

Shakopee's Tyler Weiss hit a turnaround jump shot from inside the free throw line at the buzzer to give the Sabers a 67-66 Missota Conference overtime win over Farmington Friday night at Tiger Gym.

The loss dropped the Tigers to 4-3 after the first round of conference play with the three defeats coming by a total of 11 points. Shakopee is 5-2 in league play.

"The game wasn't lost on that last possession," Farmington coach Shane Wyandt said. "We did what we wanted to do defensively.

"For 30 minutes of the game we controlled the game handily, but for the other six we were a different team."

The Tigers got off to another fast start, leading by as may as 15 points in the opening half. But an ominous five-point swing at the close of the half gave the visitors some life heading to the break.

Farmington led by 13 with less than a minute to go and worked the ball for a final shot. They got the one they wanted but missed a lay-up and the Sabers threw in a three-pointer at the buzzer to cut the deficit to 10 at 39-29.

The six-plus minute stretch Wyandt pointed to came in the second half and started with the home team with a still seemingly comfortable 55-42 lead. It ended with a 14-0 Shakopee run and a one-point defcit.

"They really hurt us on the offensive boards there," Wyandt said. "No. 22 (John Burlager) was all over the place."

Eli Rockett 17 points, 9 rebounds (photo by Jim Lindquist)

Mac Bassett brought the Tigers back with a three-pointer and a pair of free throws to make it 60-56 but a costly turnover, two missed front ends of one-and-one free throw situations and four straight clutch foul shots by the Sabers combined to push the game into overtime.

In the extra four-minute period, Shakopee scored the first four points and looked content to sit on the ball before a turnover and a three-pointer from the right corner by Bassett pulled Farmington to within a point.

The Sabers made one of two free throws to lead by two with the clock winding down but the Tigers' Zach Speikers stepped up and drilled a three-pointer from the left wing to send the home crowd into a frenzy.

Shakopee called time out to set up a final play with 9.6 seconds remaining and Wyandt said his team had it well-defended.

"They wanted to get the ball to Burlager and Darren (Beenken) did a good job of denying him the ball," he said. "They just made the shot at the end."

The Tigers committed an acceptable 10 turnovers in the contest but seven came in the second half and most of that number during the Shakopee's 14-0 blitz.

"It wasn't the number of mistakes," Wyandt said, "but it was when they occurred and how bad they were. We know these games are all going to be close and those kind of mistakes are going to make the difference."

Bassett and Eli Rockett each scored 17 points to top the Tiger scoring charts with Speikers right behind with 15. Rockett and Nick Varner led in rebounds with nine and seven respectively. Point guard Johnny Dittman had four assists.

Farmington (10-8) returns to action Monday with a non-conference home game with Waseca. Friday they begin the second round of Missota Conference play with a home contest against Red Wing.

Tiger Scoreboard: Februray 3, 2013

Girls Hockey
Farmington 2 Rochester John Marshall/Lourdes 0

Wrestling
Lakeville North Duals
Quarterfinals
Farmington 40 Eden Prairie 33
Semifinals
Woodbury 45 Farmington 2
Third Place
Stewartville 46 Farmington 25

Boys Basketball
Shakopee 67 Farmington 66 (OT)

Girls Basketball
Shakopee 47 Farmington 24

Gymnastics
Farmington at New Prague

Boys Hockey: Holy Cow! Tigers tip Stars in OT

                                                     Dallas Tucker's game-winner

Tiger coach Keith Revels wasn't sure when, or if, Farmington had ever defeated state power and perpetual Missota Conference champion Holy Angels.

"Todd Karich has been around the program for 12 years and he can't remember it happening," Revels said. "Shawn Anderson has been around even longer than that and he can't remember beating them either."

The argument was moot, however, after the Tigers handed the Stars their first conference loss this season, a 3-2 thriller in overtime Thursday night at Richfield Arena.

Dallas Tucker provided the game-winner 2:43 into the extra session on assists from Jack Erickson and Justin Novak.

"We played with a confidence that I have not seen in awhile," Revels said. "We were poised with the puck and making great decisions all over the rink.

"With the exception of the first goal we gave up, we were rock solid. Holy Angels averages about five and a half goals per game."

The visitors stunned the league leaders with a pair of goals in the first 5:11 of the game. Kevin Olund (from Alex Aubrecht) scored just 91 seconds after the opening face-off and Grady Hauswirth (from John Siebenaler) made it 2-0 after the first period.

The Stars battled back with an unanswered goal in each of the next two periods to force the extra eight-minute session.

Tucker sent the Farmington crowd home happy, scoring in transition on a rush with linemates Erickson and Novak.

A picture worth a thousand words

"We had good puck movement with players going hard to net for screens and Dallas tucked it away in the far side," Revels said.

The win wouldn't have been possible without some quality net work from Austin Krause who also earned some words of praise from his coach.

"Austin was solid in net," Revels said. "It was easily the best of his seven starts this season."

Krause turned away 30 of 32 shots to boost his season record to 5-2-1.

The loss dropped the Stars to 8-1-1 and into a first place tie with New Prague in the conference standings. Farmington, 10-9-1 overall, improved to 4-5-1 in league play.

Revels said he would have to put the upset at the top of the list of his victories since taking over the Tiger program.

"Especially with our third period woes and heartbreaking finishes this season," he said. "This one helps ease the sting a bit".

Three of the Tigers' final five regular season games will be played next week: Tuesday at home vs. Northfield; Thursday at  Chanhassen and Saturday at Bloomington Kennedy.

" I'm hoping this one jump starts us for the final push into the post-season," Revels said.

Tiger Scoreboard: Februray 1, 2013

Boys Hockey
Farmington 3 Holy Angels 2 (OT)

Boys Swimming
Farmington 102 Shakopee 77