Good Road Win to Finish the Semester, and Say Good-bye

There's no doubt one of the more difficult places to play during my 5 years with the Northland basketball team has been the UW-Manitowoc gym where we play Silver Lake College annually. Usually we shoot poorly and play from behind most of the game. And although I won't go into details here, but suffice it to say we end up a little black and blue after the game.

I guess that's why it makes it a little sweeter to see us score the opening bucket on our opening possession today (likely a first this season) and never trail as we shot lights out in the first half, and held on to win 76-69.

We were red hot from the outside in the first half (54% fg, 40% from 3pt), but anticipated that would not continue in the second. It's not that we lack confidence, but it's a long game, and almost impossible for a player (or players) to continue to shoot both halves at a high percentage. So, we talked about making an assertive effort to attack the rim with the basketball and get to the free throw line early in the half. The girls listened well, and we ended up taking 37 free throws. Although we didn't convert the percentage we wanted, we did well enough to hold on!

Tiff has 25 points and did a great job of attacking the rim and getting to the line. Abbey scored 23, 20 in the first half), and contributed as always in multiple areas. Lyds had a few moments of carelessness with the ball, but did an outstanding job of keeping the girls calm during Silver Lake's run. But my MVP for the game was Ellie. She scored 15 points, grabbed 8 rebounds, and made 5 steals. But she also guarded their best player (coming off of a 30-point game) limiting her to 13 points. It was fun to watch.

As mentioned previously, this is the final game for Abbey and Brianna. So glad they could go out with a win. They will be missed in so many ways next semester.

After the game, we grabbed lunch in Green Bay, then went caroling to some of the members of Bay City Baptist Church. We were able to visit a retirement home as well as a couple of residences. Although we could only stay about 30 minutes, it was so enjoyable to spend time with the folks at the retirement home. It was a great conclusion to a fun first semester.

As I've said before, I really love this team.

Merry Christmas everyone!