WORTHINGTON -- A 20-7 first half lead turned into a 78-68 loss for the Worthington Trojans girls basketball team Thursday night, largely due to the efforts of one player.
Six-foot sophomore center Haley Garman propelled her Redwood Valley squad to the victory, scoring exactly half her team’s points. The Trojans had no answer for her near the basket.
“That (number) 40 was a load for us,” said WHS head coach Eric Lindner. “We couldn’t keep her out of the lane. Don’t kid yourself, she’s a nice player.”
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Not only couldn’t the Trojans keep Garman out of the lane, they couldn’t keep her from pouring soft short jump shots and layups through the basket. When Worthington’s 5-11 sophomore center Sophie Wietzema fouled out with 6:39 remaining in the game (joining teammate Evelyn Othow who fouled out earlier), the final result was all but assured.
Redwood Valley, which defeated Cedar Mountain/Comfrey 73-24 in its 2018-19 opener, moved to 2-0 with the win. Worthington, which beat Spirit Lake, Iowa, 44-40 on the road, is 1-1.
The game started very well for the home team. Using their quickness and aggressiveness smartly against the Cardinals, the Trojans spurted to a 16-7 advantage when 5-6 freshman guard Brooklyn Scheitel-Taylor scored six quick points -- with two buckets coming via steals. The lead was 20-7 with under nine minutes to go.
It was at that point that Redwood Valley woke up, scoring 16 of the next 17 points to take a 23-22 lead. Worthington quickly answered by scoring the next seven points. The game was 31-29, Worthington, at the half.
Redwood Valley regained the lead early in the second half and smartly held it. The Trojans were unafraid to attempt 3-point shots, but they were not as consistent with them as the Cardinals were with Garman’s inside buckets.
Garman finished with 39 points. Sophomore forward Sydney Sommers had 21 points.
Maya Scheitel-Taylor led Worthington with 20 points. Payton Sauerbrei had 12 points and a team-high eight rebounds. Freshman Olivia Hayenga scored 11 points, and Brooklyn Scheitel-Taylor had six points to go along with five assists and five steals.
What Thursday’s game showed was that the Trojans have some quality young players. Lindner agreed, but pointed out that all of his players still have much to learn.
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“We have to do a better job of keeping out of foul trouble, and being more aggressive to the hoop. If you shoot poorly, you’ve got no second choice,” he said.
Worthington committed 21 turnovers to Redwood Valley’s 15 and was out-rebounded by the Cards 36-30.
“We just have to push ourselves a little bit more in practice, because we’re not very big this year,” said Maya Scheitel-Taylor, turning her attention to Garman’s game.
“When one girl scores all the buckets, we should stop her and see what the other girls can do. We just gotta be smarter with fouls next time. Learn from our mistakes.”
Maya, a junior, said she’s enjoying being on the same floor as her younger sister, Brooklyn.
“I like playing with her,” she smiled. “I like to push her and help her get better, because she’s all raw talent. I just told her she needs to get in the gym and work on her ball-handling. Once your ball-handling is good, you can get to the basket.”
Redwood Valley 29 78Worthington 31 68REDWOOD VALLEY (3FG-2FG-FT-TP) -- Panitzke 0-0-1-1, Martius 1-2-0-7, Sommers 3-3-6-21, Garman 0-17-5-39, Hicks 2-0-3-9, Guggisberg 0-0-1-1. Totals 6-22-16-78.WORTHINGTON (3FG-2FG-FT-TP) -- Bauman 0-1-2-4, Othow 0-1-0-2, Sauerbrei 0-4-4-12, Hayenga 2-2-1-11, Wietzema 1-0-4-7, M. Scheitel-Taylor 4-4-0-20, B. Scheitel-Taylor 0-3-0-6, Schaefer 0-3-0-6. Totals 7-18-11-68.
