WORTHINGTON -- Worthington jumped out to an early lead, but turned the ball over too many times to hold the lead as Pipestone Area caught up near the end of the first half and coasted to a 60-39 Big South Conference girls basketball victory on Thursday in Worthington.
The Trojans outrebounded the Arrows 37-34, but struggled to get the ball back down the court in transition, as they turned the ball over 36 times.
“We played with them for most of the first half, but at the end there, we let the basic things get away,” Worthington head coach Eric Lindner said. “Overall in the first half we were making good plays consistently, we got stops, we turned the ball over. The biggest negative of the game were our unforced turnovers. They turned into points for them.”
With about four minutes to go in the first half, the Trojans led 22-20, but they wouldn’t lead again. Arrows 5-foot-2 guard Rachel Skyberg tied the game at 22, and then it was all PA from there. Forward Kiaya Alderson hit a 3-pointer, center Alexis Evans made two free throws, Zoe Velde made a layup, and Evans put two more in under the basket in the final minutes. Meanwhile, Worthington only managed two free throws in that span, and the Arrows went into halftime leading 33-24.
It was more of the same to start the second as PA expanded its lead, and Skyberg took over. She scored 13 of the Arrows’ first 17 points after the intermission, on her way to a team-high 27 total points. She also led with six steals.
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“I thought we did a good job against her defensively,” Lindner said. “Most of her points came off picks and we just didn’t get there quick enough on the blitz. And when she got those open shots, she knocked them down.”
Evans scored 12 points and grabbed four rebounds for the Arrows, while Alderson scored nine.
Trojans forward Emily Shaffer and guard Emma Thuringer each scored 11 points, to lead the team. But they each also turned the ball over a team-high four times, a perfect example of the team’s downfall against the Arrows, as PA scored 35 points off turnovers.
“When we turned the ball over, most of the time it was from a guard to a wing pass and they would pick it off,” Lindner said.
The Arrows outshot Worthington 41 percent to 29 percent, but the Trojans were better on 3-pointers, shooting 33 percent, to PA’s 31.
Alangy Chan had a game-high 10 rebounds for the Trojans, to go along with four points.
Worthington remains consistent with its scoring output, scoring 39 points for the third time in its last four games.
“We have hit a plateau here, scoring 39 points, so we better figure out a way to only give up 38,” Lindner said.
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It was the third-straight game the Trojans played against undefeated opposition, after a 54-32 loss to 5-0 Waseca and a 77-39 loss to 6-0 New Ulm.
With the loss, Worthington falls to 3-3 on the season and have a matchup with a tough Sioux Falls Roosevelt team on Saturday, before facing Jackson County Central on Tuesday. Pipestone Area improves to 4-0 with the victory.
PA 33 60Worthington 24 39PIPESTONE AREA (3FG-2FG-FT-TP) -- Skyberg 3-4-8-25, Evans 0-4-4-12, Alderson 1-3-0-9, Velde 0-2-2-6, Haroldson 0-1-0-2, Houg 0-1-0-2, Bloemendaal 0-1-0-2.WORTHINGTON (3FG-2FG-FT-TP) -- Shaffer 2-1-3-11, Thuringer 0-4-3-11, R. Alwal 0-1-3-5, Chan 0-2-0-4, A. Alwal 0-0-2-2, Rosenberg 0-1-0-2, Othow 0-0-1-1, Weg 0-0-1-1.
