Gehlen Catholic trekked east to Marcus last night for a War Eagle Conference doubleheader against MMCRU.
The Gehlen girls opened up losing to the unbeaten and fourth-ranked Royals 43-20.
The 20 points scored by Gehlen last night were the fewest they’ve scored in a game this season. Shots struggled to fall all night as Gehlen finished shooting 5-36 from the field for 13.9% in the loss. Gehlen Head Coach Brandon Schaecher says he saw a tentative offensive attack from his team last night.
On the plus side, the Jays held MMCRU to only 43 points. That’s 20 points fewer points than MMCRU scores on average. It’s also the fewest they’ve scored in a game this season. Coach Schaecher says that was a result of solid progression on defense all season.
The last week has looked tough on the scoreboard for the Jays. They have picked up a pair of losses against some very good teams. Coach Schaecer says the hard work should become apparent heading into tournament time.
The Jays, who fall to 8-12 and 4-5 in the War Eagle, were led offensively by Lauren Heying and Sophie Ruden who scored 6 points apiece. MMCRU won their 19th in a row improving to 19-0 and 9-0 in the War Eagle. The Royals got 12 points from Emily Dreckman and 10 from Ellie Hilbrands.
The Gehlen boys were locked in a battle throughout most of the night and came away with a 60-53 win over MMCRU.
The Jays trailed MMCRU by three at the halftime break and trailed by as much as nine in the third quarter. MMCRU was making plays on the offensive and defensive end that kept the Jays at bay throughout the majority of the game. Gehlen Head Coach Mike Langel says that part of the reason MMCRU was having success was their physicality. He challenged his team to change that in the second half.
Coach Langel liked how his team responded to his challenge against a MMCRU team that gave the Jays everything they could handle.
The thing that impressed Coach Langel especially was the quickness and hustle he saw out of his team on the defensive end. He saw his team turn defense into offense, offense that was especially focused on getting to the hoop.
The Jays improved to 14-5 and 7-2 in the War Eagle Conference with the win. Carter DeRocher scored a game-high 22 points to lead all scorers. Keaten Bonderson had 15 for the Jays, and Keaton Logan added 13. The Royals lost their fourth in a row and fell to 7-11 and 3-6 in the War Eagle. Derek Goth scored 11 points to lead the Royals before fouling out of the game. Gehlen is at West Sioux on Monday to round out the War Eagle Conference schedule.
