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The Cubs girls’ basketball team wasted little time getting off to a strong start versus the Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted Lakers. On the first possession, Hope Kuechle earned a steal and scored. Mazie Jurek followed it up with offensive rebound putback.
The team capped a strong first half with what head coach Jeremy Kuechle referred to as an “exclamation point”– a Kuechle-made half-court shot right before the halftime buzzer. Kuechle finished with 13 first-half points and the Cubs took a 36-13 lead into halftime. The team didn’t look back in a 56-41 road win on Thursday, Jan.23.
In that first half, the Cubs got contributions from numerous individuals besides just Kuechle. Seniors Jordyn Theis and Lily Vonwahlde each sunk two three-pointers, and Isabelle Schmitz finished with five points in that opening half.
In the second half, senior Sami Winter scored all five of her points. Jurek scored eight of her 10 points in the final half.
With 7:27 left in the game. VonWahlde sunk her third three-pointer of the game, giving the Cubs a 56-25 edge. With the Cubs in control of the game, the Lakers “continued to fight,” coach Kuechle said, to score the game’s final 16 points, providing for the final margin.
Offensively, the Cubs shot 38% from the floor, and, defensively, held the Lakers to just 27% shooting from the floor. The Cubs did commit 20 turnovers, but forced 28 Lakers’ turnovers on the defensive end.
Kuechle led the Cubs and nearly recorded a double-double, scoring all 13 of her points in the first half and recording nine assists, along with three steals. Jurek finished with a double-double performance of 10 points and 10 rebounds.
Theis and VonWahlde each sunk three three-pointers apiece, accounting for all nine of their points. Lexi Schindele chipped in three points and seven rebounds, and Schmitz five points and a team-high five steals to also pace the Cubs.
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The Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City Falcons had cut the Cubs lead to one late in the second half. The Cubs responded with eight straight points that started with a Hope Kuechle three-pointer and ended with a Lily VonWahlde three-pointer, giving the team a 43-34 lead with 1:39 left.
The Cubs extended its game-ending run to 14-0, including four points at the free-throw line, to pull out what coach -Jeremy Kuechle described as a “hard-fought” 49-34 conference road win.
“It was a very physical game, and I thought we played extremely well defensively,” coach Kuechle said, “while we took control of the game late to make the plays we needed to make when it counted.”
Defensively, the Cubs held the Falcons to just four made shots in the second half. The Falcons’ seven other points in that half came at the free-throw line.
For most of the first half, the -Falcons held a narrow lead. Offense was difficult to come by for both teams, coach Kuechle said.
Freshman Lexi Schindele drained a three-pointer to give the Cubs a “rare” first-half lead, at 17-16, according to coach Kuechle. The game went into halftime tied at 19-19.
The Cubs opened that second half on an 8-0 run to take a 27-19 lead with 13 minutes left, but the Falcons responded with a 9-1 spurt to tie the game at 28-28 with 7:43 remaining.
An Isabelle Schmitz three-pointer and a VonWahlde jumper helped the Cubs regain the lead at 33-28 with 6:43 left – a lead it didn’t relinquish the rest of the way.
Kuechle led the Cubs with 16 points, including a 9-of-10 performance at the free-throw line, and also recorded five assists and five steals. Schmitz recorded nine points, five steals, and five rebounds; and Mazie Jurek had nine points, six rebounds, and all seven of the team’s blocks to also pace the Cubs.
Coach Kuechle also highlighted the play of Jordyn Theis. She finished with two rebounds and “worked hard defensively,” including earning an offensive player control foul on the Falcons’ best player.
With the win – the team’s fourth straight – the Cubs improved to 12-4 overall and 6-1 in the Central Minnesota Conference – one game behind undefeated Royalton for the conference lead.
Next action
After hitting the road to play Milaca on Jan. 27, the Cubs close out a four-game road string versus Royalton on Thursday, Jan. 30. The following week, the team returns home to host Paynesville on Tuesday, Feb. 4.