After falling 37-31 to Randolph on Thursday, the B-squad girls lost to Mankato Loyola 30-25 a day later. Both games were on the road.
Keira Schipper put in a pair of twos and a three in the first half, Taylor McCabe had a pair of twos and two free shots, and Mollie Bowman scored a two and a three to put the Clippers in front of Loyola 20-10 at the break.
But McCabe and Bowman (on the jump shot above) departed at halftime, and the Crusaders scored the first 12 points of the second half.
Sam Baker stopped the rally with a basket from the floor with 6 minutes remaining. With 35 seconds left, Schipper put in a three to pull the Clippers within a basket, 27-23, but the Crusaders made a free shot and an inside basket to hang on to the comeback win.
Schipper led the effort with 10 points. McCabe had six points, and Bowman had five points. Baker had four points.
In Randolph, Schipper’s basket, the first for the Clippers in the second half, pulled the Clippers to within a point, 19-18, but the Rockets, who led 17-16 at the break, lifted off for the next 10 points.
From there, Olivia Reinhardt put in a bucket and a free throw. Schipper put in a two-point basket and a pair of free throws. Reinhardt added three more buckets to conclude the Clipper scoring.
Schipper put in the Clippers only three in the first half as well as five free shots for 14 total points. Reinhardt scored 11 points. Playing only in the first half, Bowman and McCabe each added a basket as did Delaney Thompson before she left the game early in the first half with an injury.
The Clippers were successful in half of their 16 free throw attempts. The Rockets didn’t make any threes and were nine of 23 from the foul line.
The B-squad girls host Martin County West today (Monday) with tipoff at 5:45. A shakeup for the B girls and varsity girls as well, Thompson expects to be out for at least five days.
Kaitlyn Flowers takes a look at the basket during the Randolph game.
Olivia Reinhardt moves in for a shot as a Randoph defender meets her.
Taylor McCabe slides down the baseline on the Loyola court.