February 11
Girls
[These were the final two games of a day long basketball extravaganza at AAHS – the Card girls and boys hosting the Buffalo Bison. The Bison girls had played here during our holiday tournament, like our Cards losing to Watertown-Mayer in a competitive game. The Bison are a class AAAA team with a good record, so they figured to give our Cards a tussle. It was in the Watertown-Mayer game our Cards discovered the offensive capabilities of our wing players, Kiyana Miller and Kelby Olson-Rodel, numbers 21 and 15, respectively, in the warm-up photos below.]
[Our leading scorer Macy Hatlestad, right foreground, has missed several games with a knee. She was back on the court, wearing a brace, but didn’t play in this game. I believe the hope is she’ll be ready to play by tournament time. There are four regular season games remaining.]
[Emma Schmidt (25) second from the right, with Emma Ziegler (1) on the far right. I do not believe there is a team codicil requiring the Emmas to shoot together.]
[And on the far left is Kara Thomson (23), the team’s designated 3-point shooter. Her first two such attempts in the coming game were nothing but net.]
[Lauren Stockmoe (33) puts a hand in Kiyana’s face, McKenzie Duwenhoegger (35) is on Kiyana’s right.]
[And introducing the Cardinals . . . ]
[Coach K]
[And the Cardinals introducing themselves to each other.]
[Kayla Feldhake (43) is all concentration prior to the center jump.]
[And we’re off and running . . . ]
[And running the Cardinals is Kendall Kohler (3).]
[Kayla led the Cards on a fast start. I believe she scored the first 5 points in the game.]
[The Cards were in full smother defensive mode in the first half. The Bison never had a chance.]
[Schmidty provides long and athletic depth.]
[In addition to her usual stout defense, Kiyana has become a double digit scorer often in the new year.]
[And Kendall was lighting up 3’s and assorted other offensive maneuvers enroute to a game high 22-point performance.]
[Maggie Slagle (15) has earned more PT lately.]
[Free throws from Kiyana . . . ]
[McKenzie . . . ]
[And Kelby.]
[Good, or not?]
[Kelby executes a full speed U turn . . .]
[And hies back into the action.]
[Then tangles with a bigger Bison on defense.]
[Kendall finishes a drive.]
[Schmidty on the line. Everybody was contributing.]
[Kiyana will catch her.]
[Kendall also on a U turn. My kneecaps hurt just looking at this.]
[Kiyana on a drive . . . ]
[When she is isolated on the wing, she can usually blow by her defender.]
[About as good a half as we can play. Buffalo is a pretty good team but they were overwhelmed on this night.]
[Emma Z initiates the offense.]
[Kiyana and Kendall on a 2-on-1 break. These are almost always initiated off defensive steals.]
[Kendall on the free throw – wastes no time, makes both.]
[Nice power move in the paint by Kayla.]
[The defense hustles back – all whippets here.]
[Kaye Paschke (45) contributes at the end.]
[If Macy is ready, we’re ready for tournament time.]
Boys
[The boys game got off to a similar start as the girls. With good defensive pressure, making it hard for the Bison to score. Here Jaran Roste (31) completes a 3-point play, getting the Cards off to a quick start.]
[In fact, it was all Jaran in the early going . . . ]
[At one point he was leading the Bison all by himself.]
[Spencer Hockert (15) is the team’s leading scorer but on this night that mantle fell on Jaran.]
[Jake Drew (33) made life miserable for the Bison at the top of the press.]
[Here he has help from Robert Anderson (3) sneaking in on the lower right. We’ve been waiting for Robert, 6’1″, to get a breakaway dunk – he got a two-handed stuff in this game that brought the house down.]
[Jake works his way to the foul line.]
[Jaran hit a fall away ‘3’ at the buzzer to complete an 18-point half. The defense was obviously terrific holding the Bison to 14.]
[In the second half, Justin Balcome (43) goes in for a lay-up. This was my only photo of the 2nd half as both I, and the team, seemed to lose interest in what turned into a rather sloppy half with the game outcome never in doubt . . . ]
[Still, any win is a good win.]
[And the Alexandria Aces performed at halftime of the boys’ game.]
The NBA is like a small sorority. We’re like brothers. ~ Rashad Lewis
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