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WORTHINGTON -- There’s a saying in sports that you’re only as good as your next game.
The Spirit Lake Indians were horrible early in the first half Monday night against the host Worthington Trojans in a non-conference girls basketball contest. They’d beaten an outstanding Unity Christian team in double-overtime on Friday, and they were outscored 12-0 by the Trojans as Monday’s contest began.
Slowly but surely, Spirit Lake started to play like the team head coach Todd Rogers knew they are, and they defeated WHS 78-66.
Worthington, meanwhile, defeated a good Southwest Minnesota Christian team on Saturday, 76-71, for its first victory of the 2022-23 season. However, they weren’t able to hold the Indians at bay once the visitors got hot.
“I like the way we came out. The way we came out was the way we expected it to happen after that game against Southwest Christian,” said Trojans head coach Jessica Hogan. “Spirit Lake came back on us. They’re good finishers around the basket, and they play hard.
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“We knew what they can do. We just didn’t execute the way we can. And when we did, we just didn’t keep it going consistently,” Hogan added.
Spirit Lake connected on 12 3-point shots in the game, including seven by 5-9 junior Ella Turner.
Rogers said he half expected a sluggish start from his team on Monday, given his team’s inspired performance on Friday. And he got it.
“So you know what’s coming. You get them as pumped up as you can, and you’re kind of in quicksand. … I saw that once we saw the ball get in the hole -- a 5-point lead -- we started to get it together. I think then we started to wear them down,” Rogers said.
Tarren Spartz, who finished with 25 points for Worthington, scored seven of her team’s first eight points during the 12-0 run. By halftime, Spirit Lake assumed a 31-30 lead.
Worthington experienced some foul trouble after intermission. Madison Beckmann drew her fourth foul with 16:12 to go, and Pham Gora was whistled for her fourth at 11:06. Meanwhile, the Indians found their scoring touch.
They also played better on defense, getting numerous steals against a WHS team that appeared to tire, while moving much better on offense. Turner, who hit on five of her seven 3’s in the second half to help the Indians pull away, led both teams with 27 points. Teammate Claire Turner finished with 24 points.
Spartz and Ellie Weg both had 10 rebounds for Worthington (1-2), and Weg also chipped in with 17 points. Beckmann had eight points and eight assists. Gora had three steals.
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Worthington’s next game is Thursday at home against Marshall.
Spirit Lake 31 78
Worthington 30 66
SPIRIT LAKE (3FG-2FG-FT-TP) -- C.Turner 3-6-3-24, Schneider 0-5-2-12, E.Turner 7-2-2-27, Pritchard 0-1-1-3, F.Travis 0-1-1-3, Avery 2-0-2-8. Totals 12-15-11-78.
WORTHINGTON (3FG-2FG-FT-TP) -- Beckmann 2-0-2-8, J.Spartz 0-0-1-1, N.Gora 0-3-0-6, T.Spartz 0-10-5-25, Weg 0-7-3-17, P.Gora 0-2-0-4, Zeidi 0-2-0-4, Barber 0-0-1-1. Totals 2-24-12-66.
