This year’s basketball season got off to a slow start due to Mother Nature causing one game after another to be canceled or postponed in December. That led to a crazy January, with plenty of makeup games but thankfully, not many other changes to the schedule. Well, this week Mother Nature seemed to yell like Russell Casse in the movie Independence Day “I’m back”!!!!!! That meant the MCC Rebels and the Edgerton Flying Dutchmen would combine a schedule spread out over Monday and Tuesday to a schedule that would be played on Monday alone. For the second time this year, the Rebels would host a boy-girl doubleheader that would include six games in two gyms on three courts. Mix in several hundred hamburgers from the Murray County Cattlemen’s Association, ice cream from Lingen Dairy, and elementary dancers and you get a jampacked night of basketball and fun.
The MCC Rebel girls wrapped up their regular season schedule on Monday, taking on the Edgerton Flying Dutchmen. The Rebels knew they would play the HLOF Coyotes in the pigtail game on the subsection playoffs in Slayton later in the week, but on Monday the Rebels had one more chance to get another big win this season. The Rebels would come out rebounding the basketball well in the first half and though they struggled with their shooting and turnovers, they played good defense and they rebounded the ball well. The Dutchmen struggled to score in the first half. Alyda Vande Griend, who is leading the Red Rock Conference in scoring, would score nine first-half points to put Edgerton in the lead at halftime. Jayda Hellewell kept the Rebels in the game with 7 first-half points. The Dutchmen led at the half 20 to 17.
The second half was a problem for the Rebels. MCC did a nice job holding Vande Griend under her season averages, but that attention she received did open up plays for the rest of the Dutchmen and they took advantage. The Rebels on the other hand, struggled to score enough to really pressure Edgerton. The lack of offense from MCC would eventually show up on the scoreboard, as the Flying Dutchmen pulled away with the win 54 to 37.
The Rebels held both Alyda Vande Griend and Mateya Gilberton below their season points averages which is good news for the Rebels. They also held the Dutchmen to 30% shooting for the game, but it wasn’t enough, as the Rebels turned the ball over 19 times and made just 25% of their shots from the field. Jayda Hellewell led the Rebels with 12 points in the game. Alyda Vande Griend scored 15 points and grabbed 9 rebounds, both below her season average. The Rebel’s next game will be against the HLOF Coyotes to open subsection play.
