GIRLS KICK OFF BASKETBALL SEASON WITH WABASSO TOURNAMENT

GFW 52 MCC 48

The MCC Rebel Girls Basketball team finished last season with a 10 and 18 record. MCC was eliminated in the playoffs on Super Saturday. The Rebels return five players that saw playing time last year, all of whom started the first two games of the season this past week in Wabasso. The rest of the Rebels will be seeing some of their first extended varsity minutes of their careers. The Rebels opened the 2024-2025 season against the Thunderbirds of Gibbon Fairfax Winthrop, a team that beat the Rebels a year ago 58 to 44. Like the Rebels, the Thunderbirds have a new-looking roster this season which would setup an interesting first game.

The Thunderbirds took the early lead in this game with Trinity Stearns banking in a three point shot. GFW converted on two more three’s in the first half, as they pulled ahead of the Rebels by six to eight points. Kate Blankenship scored the Rebels’ first points of the season, but MCC found it hard to put points on the scoreboard. The defenses dominated the first half as MCC forced GFW into 15 first half turnovers, but the Thunderbirds also forced 11 Rebel turnovers. The Rebels made just four shots from the field in the first half, while GFW made 8. Taylor Larson and Ave Deacon led the Rebels with 6 and 5 points respectively. GFW had the lead at the half 24 to 16.

The Thunderbirds extended their lead to 13 points early in the second half. Kelby Bruns scored 7 second half points to lead GFW’s charge, while Nicole Duehn scored 6. The Rebels hung around in this game by not allowing many easy shots for GFW, but the Rebels offense didn’t really click until late in the game with under five minutes to play. Thea Schneider scored all 7 of her points in the second half as MCC chipped away at the Thunderbird lead. Kat Miller scored a pair of baskets, while Calleigh Doeden scored four points. As the clock ticked away, the Rebels found themselves down four points. Then Kelli Miller made her only shot of the game, but the three point basket cut the deficit to one point. Kinley Bruns scored on a breakaway layup to make it a three point game with just over ten seconds to play. Taylor Larson got a chance to tie the game, but her three point shot was just a little short and the Thunderbirds scored two free throws to finish the game with a 52 to 47 win.

The offenses in this game did not have a good day. With the pace of this game being pretty slow by most standards, the Thunderbirds turned the ball over 26 times to the Rebels 22. GFW shot 34% from the field while the Rebels shot just 23% from the field. MCC made 13 of their 28 free throws while GFW made 8 of 15. The better shooting by the Thunderbirds allowed them to get the win by 5 points. Ava Deacon had a strong game for the Rebels, finishing the game with 9 points and 8 rebounds to go along with 4 steals. Taylor Larson finished with 8 points for MCC, while Thea Schneider and Kat Miller scored 7 each.

The Rebels would turn around and play MACCRAY on Saturday morning at 10:00 am.

MACCRAY 49 MCC 39

The MCC Rebel Girls Basketball team lost their first game of the season last Friday night and on Saturday they got a chance to get their first win. The Rebels took on the MACCRAY Wolverines, a team led by Brielle Janssen - a future college basketball player who enters the season with over 1500 points and she is just a junior. She teams with Emma Thein to form a great duo with size and length most teams can’t match. The Rebels did their best and though they kept themselves in the game, in the end MACCRAY was too much.

The first half of this game felt like the Rebels were playing the Wolverines 5 on 2. The Wolverines’ points came from two players for much of the first 18 minutes. Janssen scored 13 first-half points while Thein added 10. It wasn’t until late in the first half when Samantha Hultgren hit a three-point shot for the only Wolverine points score outside of Janssen and Thein. The Rebels, on the other hand, were led by Ava Deacon who scored five points with two baskets coming inside the paint. Taylor Larson actually scored six points in the half on a pair of three-point shots, but could not find a good luck on anything inside. Thea Schneider scored four first half points, and the Wolverines led at the half 26 to 18.

The Wolverines struggled to score in the second half, but MCC did as well. MACCRAY opened up a double-digit lead early and it looked for a time like the Rebels might get blown out. But, much like game one, the Rebels chipped away at the lead. Ava Deacon scored 7 second half points, while Calliegh Doeden scored 5. With MACCRAY up 16 points late in the game, the Rebels brought in the bench and on back-to-back trips, the Rebels Mikayla Reith and Rachael Huso scored 3 points each to finish the game in favor of MACCRAY 49 to 39.

The Rebels made 29% of their shots in the game, while the Wolverines made 35% of their shots. Ava Deacon led the Rebels with 12 points in the game. She also grabbed 4 rebounds. Kelli Miller and Taylor Larson each scored 6. The Rebels came up short, but showed a strong defense and the offense is getting better. MCC will play Tuesday night at Lamberton for their final game before Thanksgiving.