Lady Cardinals suffer second loss to Kaskaskia

By JASON VIOX / Daily Journal Sports Writer

PARK HILLS - The 16th-ranked Mineral Area Lady Cardinals hosted unranked Kaskaskia on Saturday, hoping to avenge their lone loss of the season. Although the Lady Cardinals took a sizable lead early in the contest, the Blue Angels continued to battle. Also, the game officials made some controversial calls against Mineral Area, and Kaskaskia triumphed 76-65.

The Blue Angels took an early 3-2 edge, but the Lady Cardinals went on a dominating 15-0 scoring run to take the lead. Dawn Leathers knocked two straight three pointers during the run. Samantha Maines scored three straight points for Kaskaskia, but DeAnna Anderson answered with a three-point shot.

The Blue Angels went on a small 9-4 run, but Marquette Hollins retaliated with a triple, and Britany Sublett added a couple of free throws for a 31-18 lead. Kaskaskia's Bethany Borrenpohl scored eight straight points to narrow the deficit to five points, but Hollins drained a couple of free throws for a 33-26 advantage. The Blue Angels scored five more points, but Mayra Rios nailed a three pointer before the end of the half to put the Lady Cardinals up 36-31.

Rios kicked off the second half with another three-point shot, and Erica Anderson added another to help the Lady Cardinals to a 44-37 lead. A jump shot by Charisse Hicks and a three by Abbey Quitmeyer pulled the Blue Angels within two points, but Rios knocked down her third triple for a 51-43 contest.

Kaskaskia took the lead for good on a dominating 22-2 scoring run to close the game. Near the end of the run, Crystal Jones tried to go for a lay-up under heavy defense, but the Lady Cardinals were handed a questionable intentional foul. Jones sank her two free throws and immediately turned the inbound pass into a three pointer. She had 15 points during the lengthy run.

The run was capped off with a triple by Quitmeyer and two free throws by Jones. Dionn Jackson brought the Lady Cardinals to within 10 on a free throw and a three pointer, but the home team could not draw closer.

“We came out strong,” commented MAC coach Lana LaBruyere. “We were hitting our shots, but we got a little lax and forgot to stop them (Kaskaskia) on their offensive end. We gave up some boards here and there and let them back in the ball game.”

“It was not the best we've had,” stated LaBruyere on several of the officials' decisions. “But we still shouldn't have had the lapses that we did defensively. You can't blame that, but there's things that we could have done offensively and defensively to win that ball game.”

Jones finished with a game-high 22 points, and Hicks contributed 15. Hollins led the Lady Cardinals in points with 13.

Mineral Area (10-2) will visit Southwestern Illinois on January 4.

Kaskaskia - 31 45 - 76

Mineral Area - 36 29 - 76

SCORING:

Kaskaskia - C Jones 22, C Hicks 15, B Borrenpohl 13, S Maines 10, A Quitmeyer 7, S Jones 6, Z Morgan 3.

3-Pointers - C Jones 2, A Quitmeyer 2.

Mineral Area - M Hollins 13, B Sublett 12, N Rozenfeld 9, M Rios 9, D Jackson 8, D Leathers 6, E Anderson 3, D Anderson 3, N Mitchell 2.

3-Pointers - M Rios 3, D Leathers 2, E Anderson 1, D Jackson 1, D Anderson 1, M Hollins 1.