TROJAN GIRLS BASKETBALL: Trojans top Eagles 62-48

EDGERTON — Ana Boever and Paige Gravenhof sparked Worthington during the second half of a 62-48 non-conference basketball win over Southwest Christian on Saturday.

Boever led all scorers with 18 points while Gravenhof had 17 more as the Trojans improved to 2-0 this season. They combined for 27 of their 35 points during the final 18 minutes.

Boever overcame a 1 of 13 shooting effort from the field Friday against Redwood Valley and hit only 1 of 6 shots in the first half Saturday. After the break, she made 4 of 9 field goals and 5 of 7 free throws en route to scoring 15 second-half points.

After going 2 of 7 from the field in the first 18 minutes, Gravenhof made all five of her second-half shots. Along with a pair of free throws, she scored 12 points during the final 18 minutes.

“(Ana) came out of it and just got it done. Paige had a little bit of a struggle, but I thought she held it together for us,” Worthington head coach Eric Lindner said. “We struggle with patience and running things, but that is just the kind of team this is … it‘s just chaos. Sometimes, it works out in your favor.”

Boever recorded double figures in points (18) and rebounds (10) while Brooke Henning finished with nine points and a game-high 12 rebounds for the Trojans.

The Trojans, who clung to a 24-23 halftime lead, trailed 8 seconds into the second half. A layup from Morgan Van Hulzen handed Southwest Christian a 25-24 edge, but it was the Eagles‘ last advantage of the game.

Worthington then went on a 15-0 run, ignited by Boever and Gravenhof, who respectively started the scoring spree with steals they converted into transition layups.

Gravenhof’s jumper from the lane and a basket from K.C. Riley increased the Trojans’ lead to 32-25 before Boever buried a right-wing 3-pointer with 13:50 left. Gravenhof and Henning added layups as Worthington’s edge became 14 points.

The Eagles ended their scoring drought, which had lasted more than 5½ minutes, when Hannah Van Dyke’s basket came with 12:08 remaining.

“We had a spurt in the second half when we didn‘t play well and we let (Worthington) take the ballgame away from us,” Southwest Christian head coach Denise Nerem said. “We played the kind of basketball that we like to play at a pace that we like. Worthington turned the ball over a lot, giving us a lot of opportunities to take the ballgame back. We have to be able to convert those chances.”

Southwest Christian (1-1) could only cut its second-half deficit to eight points before Worthington took its biggest lead of the game at 58-41 with 2½ minutes left.

“You think about how we turned the ball over 36 times and we still won by 14 points?” Lindner said in disbelief. “We caused 43 turnovers, which is what we want to do. I thought we did an excellent job defending (Southwest Christian‘s) big kids. They were taller than us at three different starting positions and our kids had to work hard to defend them.”

Van Hulzen, a 6-foot forward, ended up with six points while Tianna Top, a 6-2 center, added four points and Kelly Tinklenberg, a 6-1 forward, scored two more.

“I thought we had a lot of open looks down low that we didn’t convert and there were a lot of free throws that we didn’t convert,” Nerem said.

Both teams struggled at the foul line, where the Eagles went 9 of 23 and the Trojans were 9 of 20. After going 1 of 8 in first-half free throws, Worthington made 8 of 12 second-half foul shots.

Jennifer Schmidt produced eight of her team-leading 10 points in the first half to keep the Eagles alive. Her baseline jumper gave Southwest Christian an early 7-5 lead before her baseline drive tied the game at 15 with 6:42 left in the half.

Amber Pater, who also topped the Eagles with 10 points, pulled down five rebounds and collected four steals. Southwest Christian received six points, eight rebounds and eight steals from Van Dyke and five steals from Van Hulzen.

The Trojans return to the court at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday with a non-conference contest at Fairmont. The Eagles play at crosstown rival Edgerton at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday.

Worthington won the junior varsity game 48-36 to become 1-1 overall this season. The Trojans lost 37-32 to Redwood Valley in Worthington on Friday.

DG Sports Editor Jeff Arenz

may be reached at 376-7328.

WORTHINGTON 62,

SOUTHWEST CHRISTIAN 48

WORTHINGTON (2-0): Boever 5-15 5-7 18, Henning 4-10 0-0 9, Kemper 1-4 1-4 3, Bruns 0-0 0-0 0, Linder 1-1 0-0 2, Gravenhof 7-12 2-6 17, Riley 3-6 0-2 6, Coriolan 2-6 1-4 5, Alwal 1-2 0-0 2. TOTALS: 24-56 (43%) 9-23 (39%) 62.

SOUTHWEST CHRISTIAN (1-1): Homandberg 0-0 0-0 0, Van Dyke 2-6 2-5 6, Knutson 1-1 0-0 2, Top 2-6 0-0 4, S. Tinklenberg 1-5 3-4 5, Zeinstra 1-1 0-0 2, Pater 5-11 0-2 10, Van Hulzen 3-7 0-2 6, Schmidt 3-11 4-7 10, K. Tinklenberg 1-4 0-0 2. TOTALS: 19-52 (37%) 9-20 (45%) 48.

Halftime: Worthington 24, Southwest Christian 23. 3-Point Goals: Worthington 5-19 (Boever 3-9, Henning 1-3, Gravenhof 1-5, Riley 0-2); Southwest Christian 0-7 (S. Tinklenberg 0-1, K. Tinklenberg 0-1, Top 0-2, Schmidt 0-3). Rebounds: Worthington 48 (Henning 12, Boever 10); Southwest Christian 41 (Van Dyke 8). Total Fouls (Fouled Out): Worthington 19 (none); Southwest Christian 21 (Schmidt). Technical Fouls: None. Steals: Worthington 26 (Riley 5, Coriolan 5); Southwest Christian 24 (Van Dyke 8, Van Hulzen 5, Pater 4). Turnovers: Worthington 36; Southwest Christian 43.

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