Serving O'Brien & Clay Counties
Serving O'Brien & Clay Counties
Sheldon takes advantage to win girls' game, 60-45
Emily Mutombo releases her shot while leading a break to the basket against Sheldon.
The final minutes of the first half and the start of the third quarter settled the outcome of a girls' non-conference basketball game between Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn and Sheldon. During that time the Orabs built a 21-point lead and went on to earn a 60-45 win on Jan. 10 in Hartley.
Sheldon scored the first six points of the game but the Hawks stayed close and only trailed 10-5 after one quarter. An inability to make free throws in the second quarter prevented H-M-S from cutting into the Orabs' advantage. Sheldon went on to score 12 straight points in the final three minutes to build a 28-13 halftime lead.
The Orabs also scored eight of the first 10 points of the second half to increase the margin to 36-15.
"We started off pretty slow," Hawk coach Lester Tessum acknowledged. "They widened the gap on us late in the first half and in the third quarter. We're not a huge scoring team and we have to stay with teams to have a chance at the end."
The Hawks put together an 8-0 run to cut the deficit to 13, which was the margin at the end of the third quarter. The fourth quarter followed a similar pattern, with the Orabs extending their advantage to 21 points and H-M-S getting back to within 12.
"The girls worked hard on defense and once we got into our offense we stayed with them pretty well," Tessum noted.
Jasmine Lux was the only H-M-S player to score in double figures. She finished with 18 points and also had six steals and five rebounds.
Other contributors were Lydia Harders, eight points; Abby Douma, five points and seven rebounds; Kylee Schiphoff, five points and five rebounds; Emily Mutombo, four points and three rebounds; and Elise Haack, three points and four rebounds.
The Hawks made 32 percent of their shots from the field. Their struggles at the foul line continue as they made just 8-of-20 attempts. Tessum said that practice time is devoted to improving both the physical act of shooting free throws as well mental preparation.
H-M-S (3-7, 0-4) travels to Remsen St. Mary's on Jan. 20, West Sioux on Jan. 21 and MMCRU on Jan. 25. The game in Hartley with MMCRU last Friday will now be played on Monday, Jan. 31.
