MCC GIRLS BASKETBALL WINS ON THE ROAD

The MCC Rebels were on the road Monday night to take on the Coyotes of Heron Lake Okabena Fulda. It was the first meeting between the two teams this year and for both teams, game one of a busy week. The Rebels will play Tuesday and Friday nights, all on the road. The Rebels hoped to get the week off to a good start after a poor performance against WWG last Friday. The Rebels would take some time, but they would pick up their 4th win of the season.

The Coyotes were looking for their first win of the year and after a close game against Benson last week, HLOF was hoping this would be it. Anna Fest would score the first two points of the game on a layup. The Coyotes wouldn’t score again for nearly 13 minutes of game time. The Rebels would miss a barrage of three-point shots to start the game, but then would settle down and focus on getting the ball inside. The Rebels’ Seanna Swenson, the team’s senior center, would score 12 first-half points. All of her shots were within ten feet of the basket. As she got going, it opened up some driving lanes and open shots for the rest of the Rebels. Karissa Hurd made the only three-point shot of the first half and Mary Lou McNab was able to get open on drives to score 6 first-half points. The Coyotes finally broke a 20-0 run late in the half on a free throw by Hailey Vanden Bosch and Anna Fest would score four points in the closing minute but MCC led at the half 29 to 7.

The Rebels played a lot of different players in the second half, showing off their depth. With the Rebels, up big and the reserves playing the defense they were, Coach Freeman could spread the minutes around, which would be very important with a game on Tuesday night. The Rebels’ top scorer in the second half was Jayda Hellewell with 4 points, but 9 different Rebels scored in the second half. The Coyotes trailed by 30 points in the second half. They made a small run late in the game, with Kelli Renneke scoring 7 points from the outside and Fest scoring 7 more inside. But, that wasn’t enough to prevent the Rebels from winning 51 to 27.

The win was MCC’s 4th of the season doubling their win total from a year ago. MCC forced 29 turnovers a season-high and they gave up the ball 21 times but many of those came late in the game. Seanna Swenson finished the game with 14 points. No other Rebel scored in double figures but 11 players did score. Mary Lou McNab scored 8 points, Kelli Miller and Karissa Hurd finished with 5. The Rebels would be back on the road Tuesday against Adrian Ellsworth.