Babaamaajimowinan (Telling of news in different places)
Babaamaajimowinan (Telling of news in different places)
MOUNTAIN IRON - The Mountain Iron-Buhl girls' basketball team had problems taking care of the ball Saturday afternoon, committing a total of 33 turnovers against visiting Red Lake.
Ultimately, the turnovers didn't cost the Rangers the win as they came out with the 69-48 victory to move to 10-1 on the season.
Playing an up-tempo, aggressive style of play, the Warriors were able to hang with MI-B for part of the first half all while flustering the Rangers on the court, as well as coach Jeff Buffetta.
Allie Negen knocked down a three on the first possession to put MI-B up early but Autumn Holthusen hit her first bucket of the contest to make it 3-2. After two made free throws from Kaylynn Chaboyea, Red Lake found themselves up 4-3 in the early going.
Negen added a layup to retake the lead for the Rangers but the Warriors' Angel McClain hit one of two free throws to knot things up at 5. Macy Savela added a free throw for the Rangers but Red Lake retook the lead with a bucket from McClain and another free throw for good measure.
A drive from Savela down the lane and the resulting bucket tied things up at eight and a made free throw from Mattison Bennett put the Rangers up 9-8.
From here on out, the Rangers wouldn't give up the lead for the rest of the contest, but the Warriors would still apply pressure offensively and defensively to frustrate MI-B.
The Rangers added two more buckets from Madisen Overbye to go up 13-10, but managed to turn the ball over numerous times during the stretch. After Overbye's second bucket, coach Buffetta took a timeout to try and settle his team down.
The Rangers continued to extend their lead throughout the first half. Both squads tried to force the offense and maintain pressure on defense, leading to turnovers and mistakes from both sides.
Leading 15-11, a bucket from Negen in the short corner and a baseline drive from Savela made it 19-11, forcing a timeout from Red Lake head coach Randy Holthusen.
Following the timeout, the Rangers went on to score 12 of the next 17 points and went into the break up 31-16.
MI-B continued to extend their lead in the second half, but the turnovers never really slowed down.
After another three from the Rangers halfway through the final stanza, MI-B held a 22 point, 52-30 lead. Some hard play from Red Lake's Autumn Holthusen helped cut that lead down to 13, but she was forced to leave the court after taking on a bloody nose.
After she returned, it was simply too little, too late for the Warriors as MI-B's playmakers in Negen and Overbye closed the game out. When the final horn sounded, the Rangers picked up their 10th win of the season by a score of 69-48.
After the contest, coach Buffetta was happy his team came out with the win, but expressed that there are still plenty of things to work on heading into the final few months of the season.
"We're playing hard but we're just turning the ball over too many times," Buffetta said. "Thirty-three turnovers today and we just can't do that. Red Lake plays an aggressive style of basketball and they can force those things but we gotta be better than that and our kids know that. But we did do a lot of good things today. It's just when you turn the ball over that much it's hard to think about the positives."
Moving forward, Buffetta says his squad's main focus will be to work on protecting the basketball.
"We can't be dwelling on the mistakes we're making so hopefully over the next two months we can fix those. That's all we're thinking about right now."
Madisen Overbye led all scorers for MI-B with 24 points. Allie Negen had 19 and Macy Savela had 12. Autumn Holthusen led all scorers in the contest with 26 points for Red Lake.
MI-B (10-1) will host International Falls on Monday at 7:15 p.m.
RL 16 32 - 48
MIB 31 38 - 69
Red Lake: Kaylynn Chaboyea 7, Lashaun Roy 2, Angel McClain 6, Gerika Kingbird 5, Autumn Holthusen 26, Kelanna McClain 2; Three pointers: Chaboyea 1, Kingbird 1, Holthusen 2; Free throws: 12-20; Total fouls: 18; Fouled out: none.
Mountain Iron-Buhl: Jacie Kvas 1, Macy Savela 12, Brooke Niska 2, Allie Negen 19, Madisen Overbye 24, Jordan Zubich 3, Mattie Bennett 3, Lauren Maki 5; Three pointers: Savela 1, Negen 1, Overbye 3, Zubich 1; Free throws: 10-19; Total fouls: 17; Fouled out: none.
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