Denny Weller
Special to The Free Press
MANKATO — A horrendous first-half shooting performance was too much to overcome Thursday night for the Mankato West girls basketball team in a 47-36 Big Nine Conference loss to Albert Lea.
West (4-14, 4-9 in Big Nine) missed its first 18 field-goal attempts and fell behind 16-2 on Skyler Anderson’s layup following a missed three-shot flurry by the Scarlets.
“We were rushing our shots and not really looking at the basket,” West junior forward Emily Doyle said. “I think that’s what killed us the most, we just weren’t paying attention. I think we felt we really needed to score to get the morale of the game going.”
Doyle, who led the Scarlets with 17 points and seven rebounds, ended the Scarlets’ field-goal drought when she converted a layup with 3:47 left in the half.
West, which ended up 3 of 25 over the opening 18 minutes for 12.0 percent, got baskets from Morgan Klaustermeier and Clarissa Ahlquist to cut the margin to 18-8 at the break.
“Nothing would go for us and part of that is the kids need to see the basket before they shoot the ball,” West coach Dianne Johns said. “We weren’t doing that in the first half, hence the 0-for-18 start. .... That just can’t happen.”
Albert Lea (8-10, 6-6) struggled in the early stages of the second half against the Scarlets’ pressure defense and a 7-0 burst cut the deficit to 18-15 on back-to-back, 8-foot turnarounds in the paint from Doyle.
Doyle and Ahlquist fired in 3-pointers moments later before Doyle’s sweeping hook shot crept West within 28-27 with 8:23 to go. After Jessica Makela’s clever inside basket kept things close, Abbey Arends’ two foul shots sparked a game-ending 16-6 surge for the Tigers.
“I think the first basket got us amped,” Doyle said. “I think a lot of frustration kicked in with a lot of us. Our shots were a lot less forced in the second half, and we paid more attention.
“We did a lot better job concentrating on our offense and we added a little zone pressure defensively. Our defense kept our intensity up and we knew we could get back in the game if we kicked it up.”
Arends, who finished with 30 points, converted 13 of 14 free throws and nailed three 3-pointers.
West, which lost the boards 41-27, closed out the game 12 of 42 from the field for 28.6 percent compared to the Tigers’ 14 of 45 for 31.1 percent. Ahlquist tallied five points and five rebounds for the Scarlets.
“We used a 1-3-1 zone against them in the second half because we felt we could rebound better and get in the passing lanes,” Johns said. “We’re making some mental mistakes we shouldn’t be making at this point in the season.”
West plays Tuesday at Rochester Century.
