REBEL GIRLS FALL TO RTR

The MCC Rebel Girls were in Tyler on Thursday to take on the RTR Knights in a Red Rock Conference matchup. The Rebels have played the Knights for years, so the game isn’t that big of a change, but what will be different is how fast the teams will play again this season later in the year now that RTR has joined the Red Rock Conference. In the first meeting of the season, the game would come down to a key run in the middle of the first half.

The Rebels and Knights looked like very evenly matched teams over the first five minutes of the contest. The Rebels were able to get the ball inside draw some fouls and convert on a couple of free throws early as the Rebels led 7-6 with over thirteen minutes to play. At that point, the Rebels would go scoreless for nearly nine minutes. As the Rebels failed to score the Knights would score 20 points claiming a 26 to 7 lead. The Rebel’s next point would come at the 4:50 mark in the first half on a free throw. The Rebels would then finish the half on a 12 to 7 run to make the halftime score 33 to 19.

The second half was played nearly evenly over the final 18 minutes. The two teams would go back and forth with MCC getting within single digits. MCC would force the Knights into a handful of turnovers to begin the second half as MCC would get as close as 8 points. The problem is, the Rebels would get to within 8 or 9 and then would go scoreless for a stretch, allowing the Knights to extend their lead. Inside of nine minutes, RTR wouldn’t look back. They pulled ahead by nearly 20 points as the Rebels offense sputtered. The Rebels would fall 57 to 42.

It was an interesting game that, if you subtracted the 20-0 run in the first half, the Rebels played right with the Knights. RTR outshot the Rebels from the field by 38% to 26%. MCC made more three-point shots than RTR and they outrebound-ed them by 8. Turnovers were nearly the same so in the end, RTR’s shooting was the difference. Ava Deacon was the only Rebel in double figures with 10 points. Lily Daniels scored 8 for MCC. Abby Overman led the Rebels with 8 rebounds while grabbing 3 steals. Allyson Nelson led RTR with 12 points while Tatum Hess added 10. The Rebels will wrap up the pre-Christmas portion of their schedule Thursday in Mountain Lake.