MCC VS MLAC

The MCC Rebel Girl’s lost a hard-fought game against the Hills Beaver Creek Patriots on Tuesday, December 6th. The Rebels rallied hard in the closing minute to lose by one possession. Friday night the Rebels played host to the Mountain Lake Area Comfrey Wolverines in a Red Rock Conference matchup. The Rebels and the Wolverines have played some crazy games with one another over the last several years and this one would be similar. Before you can win you have to learn how to do it and the Rebels learned another lesson on Friday.

Zoey Iverson gave the Rebels an early lead making the first shot of the game but both teams struggled in the first half to score until the final nine minutes of the half. Early on both teams struggled to convert on shots whether they were open or not. The Rebels would maintain the lead but it didn’t expand beyond a couple of possessions. Seanna Swenson, making her first start of the season, played well early on defending Brooke Naas and scoring eight first-half points. MCC got a nice contribution from Jayda Hellewell who came into the game and scored 3 quick points. MCC went on a run with Casey Miller and Karissa Hurd making a three-point shot each but in both instances, the Wolverines would answer with a three-point shot from Julia and Annika Brinkman in both cases it was the first point for each of the Wolverine players. The Rebels led by the score of 23 to 19 as the first half came to an end when Hellewell got off a three-point shot from the top of the key that would bounce in as the horn sounded giving the Rebels a 7-point lead at the half.

The Rebels were playing good defense and they had controlled the game for the most part through the first half and that would continue for the first five minutes of the second half. Seanna Swenson and Casey Miller would score the Rebels’ first ten points of the second half and the Rebels’ lead grew to 13 points. MCC led 36 to 23 with just over thirteen minutes to play in the game. At this point in the game, Brooke Naas hadn’t scored a point in the game which is saying something for a player that can score 20 in just about any game she plays. The Wolverines called a timeout and out of that timeout they would get a three-point shot from Annika Brinkman and the Rebels would turn the ball over and Julia Brinkman would score. The Wolverines’ defense forced the Rebels into one turnover after another in the closing minutes of the game but the Rebels missed to many shots and made too many silly mistakes to end the MLAC run. The Rebels’ lead would continue to dwindle but it wasn’t a fast-scoring run but more like a 14-point run over almost eight minutes of the game. Over the final 13 minutes of the game, the Rebels would be outscored 24 to 2. Taking the loss 47 to 38.

The Rebels turned the ball over 29 times in the game but 17 came in the second half as their lead disappeared and the Wolverines came from behind. The Rebels forced 20 turnovers but too many times the Rebels were unable to score off turnovers. The Wolverines would make two more three-point shots than the Rebels and they would make 7 more free throws which was much of the Rebels’ deficit. The Rebels were led by Seanna Swenson who had a terrific game scoring 14 points and grabbing 13 rebounds. Casey Miller finished with 7 points and Jayda Hellewell had 6. Abby Overman struggled to score but finished with 10 rebounds, 3 assists, and 2 steals. MLAC was led by Julia Brinkman’s 13 points. Jaci Tollefson and Annika Brinkman finished with ten points each. The Rebels will play in Okabena on Thursday against the Coyotes of Heron Lake Okabena Fulda.