Jersey stays close to Breese Mater Dei in Tip-Off Classic matchup
ALTON – One thing about basketball remains constant: Teams can't fall into holes early on; it an be very difficult to climb back out of the hole once a team gets into one.
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Such was the case for Jersey's girls basketball team Friday night in their pool-play game in the Alton Tip-Off Classic against Breese Mater Dei. The Panthers fell into a hole where they found themselves nine points down at one point before scrambling to cut the deficit to five at quarter time, but could never quite get out of the hole before dropping a 45-36 decision to the Knights.
The loss, Jersey's second of the tournament, put them in Saturday's 4:30 p.m. fifth-place game against the host Redbirds with an 0-2 mark; the 2-0 Knights moved into Saturday's 7:30 p.m. championship game against Hardin-Calhoun with the win.
“We dug ourselves a hole; I think we were down nine points in the first few minutes of the game,” said Panther coach Kevin Strebel, “and it ended up a nine-point game. That was coming out and not making the strong passes – turnovers – to start off the game.
“There was improvement as the game went along, and at this point – that's what we talked about in the locker room – that's what you have to see from quarter-to-quarter. I mean, we're eight quarters into the season, and was our eighth quarter better than our first or second or third, fourth fifth? Yeah, it was, so that's encouraging.”
Foul trouble affected the Panthers throughout the night; it cost them Bethany Muenstermann in the late going and only two players – Brianna Schroeder and Hannah Hudson – were the only Panthers who ended the game with less than three fouls. “We got into some foul trouble tonight,” Strebel said, “and that hurt us, I think – especially we ended up scoring 36 (points) and we had a player (Muenstermann) who wound up scoring 22 the other night, and she can't catch a break and gets into some foul trouble there and ends up with three. That hurt us, I think.
“You're looking for continued effort, smart thinking and improvement. I think we had some of that tonight; Mater Dei's a quality team.”
Mater Dei did seize control of the game, getting out to the mentioned nine-point lead in the opening term, the Panthers cutting the lead to 15-10 thanks to a Makenzie Thurston free throw following a basket at the quarter-time siren. The Panthers could not make a run at the Knights as the game went on, Mater Dei keeping Jersey at bay with key scores when they were needed, then pulling away in the third quarter and hitting from the free-throw line to stay ahead; Muenstermann hit just once from behind the arc before fouling out in the late going.
Thurston led the Panthers with 20 points, with Peyton Tisdale adding eight on two three-point shots and once from the floor early on. Kelsey Gerdes led the Knights with a 21-point game while going 6-for-8 from the line; Myah Beckmann followed with eight points.
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