REBEL GIRLS LOSE VS. RRC FALCONS

The MCC Rebel Girls’ Basketball team was on the road this past Thursday night to take on the Falcons of Red Rock Central. The Falcons have been very consistent over the years battling with the top teams in the Red Rock Conference. They have been in the top half of the Red Rock this season even with a large number of injuries and illnesses that have cost the team key players nearly all season. Karli Arkell has been one of those players but she was back on the floor against the Rebels who were looking to turn their season around after an ugly loss to the Wolverines of Mountain Lake Area Comfrey on Monday night. The Rebels would play one of their best halves of basketball this season against Red Rock Central but it wouldn’t be enough.

The first half was an actionpacked battle that went back and forth with the Rebels leading very early but the Falcons would come back to take the lead. The Rebels would grab the lead early on Jessica Miller’s three-point shot on the first possession of the game. With the Rebels’ struggles the last two weeks, Coach Freeman decided to shuffle the starting lineup and Miller would make it work on the first trip down the floor. The Rebels would ride the post play of Emily Rohrer most of this game she would score 10 first-half points keeping the Rebels close and a handful of other players would score baskets to aid the Rebel senior. The Falcons had the perfect antidote for a good post player and that was a 5’4” point guard by the name of Lilly Stavness. Stavness wasn’t going to stop anyone from posting up on the low block but she was going to score as many points as she could to overshadow the Rebels center. Stavness was red hot scoring 17 first-half points. When the Falcons needed a basket Stavness was able to do it. Karli Arkell who was back on the floor Thursday night did not start but she did score six points in the first half as the Falcons led 29 to 25.

As competitive as the first half was the Rebels luck ran out in the second. MCC was aggressive in the first half attacking the Falcon pressure and though it led to some turnovers it also led to scoring chances that kept the Rebels in the game. In the second half, the Rebels turnovers came from being too passive and not looking to attack the pressure. This led to turnovers and wide-open layups for the Falcons whose low post-scorers dominated the second 18 minutes. Sondra Rindfleisch and Karli Arkell scored 12 points each in the second half. The Falcons outscored the Rebels 41 to 23 in the second half. The Falcons pulled away for victory 70 to 48.

The Rebels were led by Emily Rohrer who finished with a solid 16 points but no one else for the Rebels scored in double figures. Casey Miller finished with 6 points, Lilly Daniels, Jayda Hellewell, Abby Overman, and Zoey Iverson each had 4. The Falcons got 20 from Stavness, 18 from Arkell, and 14 from Rindfleisch. The Rebels would finish the week at home against SWC on Saturday night.