MCC GIRLS BASKETBALL STARTS THE SEASON ON THE ROAD

The Murray County Central Rebel Girls Basketball team opened their 2022-2023 season on Tuesday night with a very tough matchup to open the season. The Rebels traveled to Tracy to take on the TMB Panthers. The Panthers won the subsection 3a south title last season losing to Minneota in the section finals. The Rebels were 2-23 last year and are hoping an experienced roster with some positive moments in the offseason will lead to an improved season this time around. The Panthers got a victory in their first game of the season beating Red Rock Central 71 to 27 the Rebels were hoping to be more competitive in their contest Tuesday.

The Rebels got off to a good start taking a brief one point lead on a Jayda Hellewell three point shot just a minute into the contest. The Panthers are a fast paced team that pressures the ball and looks to hurry opponents into mistakes and that defense worked at times against the Rebels but at other times when the Rebels showed some poise they were able to get scoring opportunities. The Panthers would take the lead early on with the help of Grace Dolan who scored a quick ten points. The Rebels would hand around with scoring from Hellewell and Zoey Iverson the duo combined for 16 first half points. The Rebels would take the lead 21-20 midway through the first half. The lead sparked the Panthers who went on a 13-0 run over a four minute stretch which saw the Rebels lead disappear and the Panthers went ahead 33-21. MCC would close the first half on a five to nothing run to make the halftime score 33-26. The Rebels struggled with 18 turnovers in the first half but they forced the Panthers into 11.

The Rebels played a solid ten minutes to open the second half. The two teams controlled their turnovers and the Rebels scored the first four points of the half but the Panthers would get some nice contributions from Hailey Gernetz who scored 5 second half points and Brianna Swanson added another five. Though the Rebels controlled their turnovers they struggled to score points as the Panthers built as much as a 15 point second half lead. The Rebels would get back on track led by Abby Overman scoring nine of her 13 points in the second half and Mary Lou McNab had a pair of offensive rebounds and put backs to score 4 points. The Rebels trailed by 7 points with three minutes left and had the ball three times to cut it within six points but could not. The Panthers would hold on for a 63 to 51 one victory.

It wasn’t a perfect start for the Rebels but it was a good showing against a strong opponent. The Rebels turned the ball over 33 times while forcing 20. The Rebels out shot the Panthers by percentage at the three point line, free throw line, and overall but the Rebels turnovers allowed the Panthers to take 25 more shots from the field and 9 more free throws. The Rebels had 8 different players score, led by Overman’s 13 points and Jayda Hellewell who scored 12 points and had 9 rebounds. The Panthers were led by Jordan Munson’s 19 points and Grace Dolan’s 12. MCC will play host to the Adrian Ellsworth Dragons on Friday night.