With both Parents’ Night and Senior Night on Friday, the varsity girls game against Alden-Conger/Glenville-Emmons was an appropriate time for the Clippers to get their second win.
It didn’t come easily though as the Knights launched couple of comebacks in the second half. But they missed a free shot that would have tied the game with 27 seconds left, and the Clippers, who were coming off a close loss at New Ulm Cathedral the night before and a decisive defeat at Hector on January 23, hung on for the win.
“We have been working hard in practice,” said, Ava Hahn, one of the three seniors and who, with 27 points, 15 of them from three-point range, paced the Clippers. “The coaches have been pushing us a lot, so it feels good to finally achieve what we’ve been working for.”
Hahn and senior Addi Holden each made a trio of treys in the first half, and the Clippers led 41-29 at the break.
“Most every game we lose by only 10,” said senior Lacey McCabe, “but Ava pulling up when nobody was guarding her at the top helped make the difference. She’s a shooter.”
“We’ve been working on making those quick passes and not showing where we’re going to pass it, and that helped us a lot,” Hahn explained.
With a dozen offensive rebounds in the first half and 15 defensive rebounds, the Clippers also did a good job cleaning up the boards in the first half.
“It got kind of chippy out there, but overall it was our best rebounding game,” said Holden.
As Taylor McCabe took the sideline with four fouls, the Knights scored the first seven points of the second half, but mostly on Hahn buckets, the Clippers posted 16 of the next 23 points from there to lead 57-43.
The Knights responded with the next 11 points to pull within three, 57-54, but back on the floor, Taylor McCabe plopped in a timely three, and Hahn followed up with a two-point jumper to give the Clippers some cushion.
After the Knights put in a two and a three, it was Holden’s turn to drop a timely trey, but the Knights spun for a bucket and then pulled down an offensive rebound and scored to pull within a basket, 65-63 with 1:42 remaining.
With the Clippers turning the ball over out of bounds, the Knights had a chance to tie the game at the foul line but missed the second shot. The Clippers had the ball with 22 seconds left and almost drained the clock but put up a shot. The Knights rebounded, called a timeout with two seconds left but couldn’t get off a viable shot after the inbounds at half court, and the Clipper hung on for the win.
Head coach Joe Remiger said the Clippers did a good job on defense, and the Knights weren’t hitting a lot of shots except threes, so kept the taller girls on the floor to get boards. Overall, the Clippers did a good job keeping their energy up, despite playing in a warm, stuffy gym 24 hours earlier.
“I asked (assistant coach) Myrriah (Rutz) ‘what are we going to have tonight?’ because it was so hot in that (New Ulm Cathedral) gym. We didn’t sub much there, and so how spent are we going to be? I would have liked to see better rebounding in the second half, but defensively we were helping out better, and offensively we were moving the ball better.”
Hahn made 60 percent of her two-point shots and 46 percent of her three attempts. Holden had 16 points, a dozen of them launched from behind the arc.
Taylor McCabe had 11 points, including one three. Lacey McCabe had nine points, a pair of twos and five foul baskets. Mollie Bowman chipped in a first half bucket.
The Clippers had 10 threes and made nine of 14 free throws while the Knights put in seven threes and seven of 13 free throws.
Hann grabbed 13 rebounds while making three assists and one steal. Lacey McCabe had seven rebounds, three assists and one steal. Kaitlyn Flowers had five rebounds, three assists and four steals. Holden had eight rebounds, two assists and two blocks. Taylor McCabe had six rebounds, three assists and a pair of steals. Bowman had three rebounds and one assist.
In the second half, the Clippers pulled down eight offensive rebounds and 14 defensive rebounds. The Knights totaled nine offensive rebounds and 30 defensive rebounds. Both teams had 11 turnovers.
NUC 60, Cleveland 52
Up 12-7 after back-to-back threes from Holden and Emma Kortuem, the Clippers led most of the first half. Trailing 21-16, the Greyhounds, with a couple of threes in the mix, went on a nine-point run to close out the half and went into the locker room leading 26-21.
Lacey McCabe put in a couple of baskets to start the second half, and Holden canned a triple, and with a pair of Lacey McCabe free shots, the Clippers were within three, 38-35, but Cathedral responded with a basket from the floor and back-to-back threes to extend their lead.
Later, Holden’s jumper deadlocked the game at 50 with 3:15 remaining, but other than a Hhan basket on an inbounds pass, it was all Greyhounds down the stretch with a basket and eight made free throws.
Lacey McCabe led the Clippers with 15 points, which included five baskets from the floor and five free shots. Hahn and Holden each had a dozen points. Half of Holden’s points came from shots behind the arc. Taylor McCabe had six points, all in the first half. Bowman put in a bucket in each half for four total points. Kortuem made a first half three.
The Clippers put in three threes and 15 of 26 free throws while the Greyhounds had seven threes and made 13 of 21 foul shots.
The Clippers had 39 rebounds and 23 turnovers compared to 31 rebounds and 18 turnovers by Cathedral.
Hahn totaled seven rebounds, four assists and five steals. Lacey McCabe had six rebounds, two assists and two steals. Holden had five rebounds, one steal and two blocks. Taylor McCabe had four rebounds and one assist. Bowman had five rebounds. Emma Kortuem had two rebounds and one assist. Flowers had five rebounds, one assist and one steal.
BLHS 71, Cleveland 47
Buffalo Lake-Hector-Stewart led by six at the half. The 21 Clipper points were concentrated among three players: Hahn put in a hat trick of triples and a two-point basket. Taylor McCabe also bagged a three and had a pair of two-point baskets and a free shot, and Bowman added a basket.
The Mustangs, with four threes in their mix, outscored the Clippers 43-26 in the second half.
Hahn had four second-half baskets and led the Clippers with 19 total points. Taylor McCabe had 18 points. Lacey McCabe had a pair of twos and three freebies in the second half for seven total points. Bowman added a second half basket for four total points.
The Clippers made five baskets from three-point range and six of 15 foul shots. The Mustangs made six threes and 15 of 23 free throws.
After traveling to Granada on Monday, the varsity girls go on another road trip on Thursday with a 6:00 game at St. James.
Above: seniors Ava Hahn, Addi Holden and Lacey McCabe
