TROJAN GIRLS BASKETBALL: Trojans take down Cardinals

WORTHINGTON — A late first-half run gave Worthington the separation it needed during a 71-53 Southwest Conference victory over Redwood Valley on Friday.

The Trojans used an 11-0 run to turn a 25-21 edge into a 15-point advantage with than 3 minutes left before halftime.

Paige Gravenhof, who scored 13 points and pulled down seven rebounds, led the Worthington outburst. She ignited the run by draining a 12-foot jumper at 4:15 mark before capping it with a pair of transition layups about 90 seconds later.

“I had a lot of nerves at the beginning of the game, but I felt, that after I scored a few points in a row, I had some momemtum and we went from there,” Gravenhof said.

In between, Rebecca Linder knocked down a 3-pointer Lydia Kemper produced a basket in transition.

“It got sloppy in the second half, but we did a lot of good things in the first half,” Trojans head coach Eric Lindner said, “I think our pressure bothered (Redwood Valley). I was concerned about our rebounding and our players were getting beat on a lot of back cuts. We were going for the ball and not guarding our man.”

Worthingon, which held a 14-6 edge in steals, benefitted from Ana Boever’s four swipes. Despite 12 rebounds from Brooke Henning, the Trojans were outrebounded 44-41. Janessa Read collected 10 boards to lead the Cardinals.

Worthington, which led 42-28 at intermission, scored seven of the first nine points in the second half to go ahead 49-30.

“Overall, I liked the effort because we hustled and ran the floor,” Coach Lindner said. “But the ugly parts were our rebounding and the 54 combined turnovers from both teams.”

Worthington committed 23 turnovers and forced 31.

Coach Lindner said the Trojans were attempting to run offensive sets throughout the second half, but were not always successful.

“Every time we caught the ball, we seemed to shoot in the second half,” Coach Lindner said. “We have to know when run our offense and when to play an open style. That’s something we to learn.”

Worthington had strong play from post players Apiew Alwal and Whitney Corionlan, who contributed eight points apiece off the bench.

“Post play was a concern I had coming into this season,” Coach Lindner said.

Gravenhof agreed.

“We didn’t know if we were going to have an inside game this year, but were able to get the ball to our bigger players and they performed well for us,” she said.

Henning had eight of the Trojans’ first 10 points 6 minutes into the game before finishing with a double-double (13 points, 12 rebounds).

Kemper was the third Worthington player to score in double figures, ending up with 10 points and seven rebounds.

Worthington led 18-7 after Gravenhof connected with her only 3-pointer as 12:28 remained before halftime. But Redwood Valley climbed back into the game by hitting seven of its next eight free throws before receiving a 3-pointer from Tara Sandgren during a 14-7 run that trimmed the Cardinals deficit to four (25-21).

Sandgren and Makenzie Mace each posted eight points to lead Redwood Valley (0-2 overall, 0-1 SWC). Lauren Hanson added seven more, while Alison Curry and Kayla Pohlen chipped in six points apiece.

Worthington (1-0 overall, 1-0 SWC) returns to action at 6:30 p.m. today in a non-conference game at Southwest Christian.

Tags: sports, prep, trojans, basketball