[And some days you have to feature the cheerleaders! 🙂 ]

[Not to worry – we did win.]

It was the Cardinals v. the Cardinals.  Alexandria v. Willmar.  A traditional rivalry.  I should have taken that into consideration.  I thought it would be an easy (well, relatively easy) win for us.  We were still playing without starting center, Kalli Bowser, but that didn’t slow us down in the previous game versus Tech.  She would have been a big help in this game.  (Kalli was in uniform and went through warm-ups wearing a protective mask.  She did not play.  I don’t think I’d play her in the next two games either.  That would give her 10 more days of healing before the Fergus game.)

[The JV game]

[Band]

[Emily Thul]

[Posing.   Yeah, they knew.]

[Alyssa Freiderich, 5’11” sophomore]

[Emily inbounding]

[“Say, is that Kim Kardashian?”]

[Karly Betterman]

[Kendra Holm escorts the coaching staff.]

I thought our athleticism would carry the day – and I thought we had a big advantage in that regard.  The one thing I should remember in girls’ basketball -if a player isn’t (or doesn’t appear to be) very athletic, chances are pretty good she can shoot lights out.  This was a game of our steals leading to lay-ups versus Willmar’s hardly ever missing a shot, particularly 3’s!

[Band II (pretty much the same group as at the JV game)]

[Believed to be the only ones there as fans of a referee.]

[Whitney . . . and someone’s ponytail]

[Kalli trying out the protective mask in warm-ups.]

[The original Super Fans!]

[“Did you see Kim Kardashian?”]

[“No, where was she?”]

[“There she goes!”]

[Abby Hlinsky (I believe?), 5’7″ junior]

[The Perimeter]

[Band III, w/company]

[The Competition]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pw6nDUAoA0w  (Game opening video)

The game started with us making two unforced turnovers and then shooting an air ball (you may hear commentary to that affect in the opening of the video).  We all have days like that – Tuesday morning I made four attempts to leave the house for a meeting before  finally “remembering” everything I needed.  The game was close throughout, though we kept waiting for that Cardinal spurt that would put the game away.  On this night, the spurt never came.  Several times we built the lead to 7, but that’s as far as we could distance ourselves.  A stretch midway through the 2nd half defined the whole game.  LT made 3 steals in a row and went in for lay-ups, stretching our lead to 7.  Finally, we thought – here we go!  Willmar came back and hit two 3’s in a row and suddenly the lead was back to 1 again.  Give Willmar credit – I don’t know how they did it for even when we had them in a double-team trap, their player would make a move under duress, and going sideways and shooting off the wrong foot, throw in another 3.  It was remindful of the opening game against DL  Their shooting percentage had to be phenomenal – ours not so good, except for all the steals that lead to lay-ups.

[LT, doing her thing!]

[3-on-1, Willmar’s probably in trouble!]

[Whitney sinks a free throw.]

[LT’s immediate fan club.]

[Kendra, keeping an eye on the store.  Her grandpa, El, made his first appearance for this game – good to have him back!]

[Cara]

[R-E-B-O-U-N-D]

[More competition]

[LT on the line]

[Amanda C]

[The competition, again – shooting the student section for the school?]

[LT – looks good?]

[Dani tickles the twine]

[Both times!]

[Cara – dunno?]

[We won!]

[The staff photographer comes down for his internationally-renowned player-of-the-game coverage.  Kohler exits, stage left.]

[Dani was player-of-the-game.  I then turned coverage over to the pro.]

For whatever reason, the midcourt stands were already full when we arrived halfway through the JV game (we won, also close all the way).  Thus, the Super Fan contingent was split up all over the south stands.  So, we could not enjoy a collective WOW for the game’s final play.  Our Cards were ahead by 2 points with less than 10 seconds to play.  We took the ball out under our own basket and, of course, Willmar was deploying a full court press to either prevent us from inbounding or to foul immediately.  We ran the wheel play – again!  Some of the Super Fans had never seen it before and couldn’t believe it.  LT faked in, then spun around off a screen and sped downcourt – she was wide open and Angela C hit her with a beautiful 50-yard TD pass that LT converted into an uncontested lay-up.  We did not contest Willmar’s final score at the buzzer.  A win is a win.

[And we’ll end with them, too.  (By the staff photographer on the other side of the court, obviously.)  🙂 ]

And now, by popular demand, even more from the Trumm Files:

[Karly in the JV game]

[Even more competition?  I think we should check his credentials!  At least he keeps good company.]

[Super Fans]

[Amanda G]

[“Was Kim Kardashian on the other side of the gym?”]

[“I have reason to believe the Kardashian sighting was merely a rumor.”]

[“Was it Elvis then?”]

[The Willmar center – her free throws were so good I don’t think they ever touched the rim – swish, swish, swish.]

[LT – good rebounding is also part of her repertoire.]

[AC]

[Kohler’s team in the new high school.]

[LT bolts to daylight – back wash from her sprint overturns popcorn boxes in the first three rows.]

[Madcap zanies]

[Nice shot, Greg!  The referee,  incidentally, is the progeny of locally-famous vocalists.]

[More competition – and with a white lens!]

[I still think they should make The Dave Clark Five’s Catch Us If You Can the team’s theme song.]

[As previously noted, Dani was player-of-the-game.]

And Kalli gave an update on her recovery progress: