We drop two at home, but are getting better

We opened up our home schedule with two games last week; Tuesday against UW-Marinette and Friday night against Silver Lake College. We had one practice with Becca and Kate (on Monday night) before playing Tuesday. And while there were several good moments in the game, there were more mental and intensity lapses than we could overcome. We trailed early by double-digits, and rallied to cut the lead to seven near half. But two mistakes in the final 30 seconds allowed them to take a 32-21 lead at halftime. We started the second half slowly, and never recovered. Our help defense and rebounding were below acceptable, and despite getting great looks at the basket, shot it poorly, and lost the game 69-40. The point of emphasis following the game was to "control what you control - focus, effort and attitude." Allie led us in scoring with 18 points, and Kate added 10. Becca gathered eight rebounds

We had a brief practice Thursday night, and despite it being brief and having lots of visitors present (High School Invitational Tournament) may have had our best practice in years. The girls were extremely focused and everything was at game speed.

On Friday night, in front of a loud and packed crowd, the girls took another giant step forward with their play. Silver Lake gradually increased to seven points with four minutes remaining in the first half, but we closed on an 8-3 run to trim their lead to 27-25 at the half.

We started the second half on fire from outside, with Kate, Allie and Brooke hitting 3's at different times in the first six minutes. We took a 41-31 lead with 13 minutes left, but struggled to generate much offense after that. We got lots of good looks, but consistently came up short from inside and out while Silver Lake chipped away and eventually took the lead. Allie hit a jump shot with 1:30 left to pull us within one at, 53-52. Despite several good defensive efforts and rebounds, we failed to get a quality look on three possessions, and were forced to foul with 5.2 seconds remaining. After their player missed the front of the one-and-one, we got the ball to Kate who got a good look from about 35 feet, but the ball glanced off the front of the rim, and we lost 53-52. The game was night and day different from Tuesday, with a full game of focus and intensity. Of course making shots helps as well! Kate had a fantastic game with 19 points (5 of 9 from 3pt), 9 rebounds, 6 assists and 4 steals. Allie added 11 points, 11 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 steals, and Brooke scored 11 as well. We were all encouraged with the effort, but not satisfied. There is a difference.

Again, thanks to our students, guests, and Northland family for the amazing support. It was so much fun to play in an atmosphere like that. We don't take it for granted. Also, thank you for reading.