Home Sports Le Mars Basketball Suffers Tough Losses to Unity Christian

Le Mars Basketball Suffers Tough Losses to Unity Christian

Le Mars Community basketball competed in their first doubleheader of the season at Unity Christian on Thursday night. The Bulldogs came away with a pair of tough losses to leave both teams with winless records.

The Bulldog girls had the tough test of taking on the second-ranked Knights, and they fell in a tight one by the final of 56-55.

Le Mars did not let that number-two ranking bother them at all taking it to Unity Christian early and often. The Bulldogs led the Knights at the end of one quarter and even held a five-point lead in the first half. Le Mars Head Coach Cody Dyhrkopp says the issue became the 10-0 run that the Knights finished the second quarter with.

The Knights held a lead as big as a dozen in the second half which could have left Le Mars down and out against a great team. The Bulldogs used some timeouts early to try and get them back on the right track. The timeouts worked as the Bulldogs came all the way back to tie the game with 12 seconds remaining in regulation. Coach Dyhrkopp says the way his team responded in the second half was great to see.

The Bulldogs have had a really rough start to the season going 0-2 by a combined four points in their losses. The Bulldogs have been battle-tested going up against a few great athletes to start the season. Coach Dyhrkopp says he relishes giving his team that opportunity to face some of the best players around.

The Bulldogs were led by Sarah Brown with 18 points while Metta Skov tacked on 16 more. Gracie Schoonhoven led the second-ranked Knights with 27 points.

The Bulldog boys brought out a whole new lineup that had not seen substantial varsity minutes when they took the floor in a loss to Unity Christian by a final of 66-45.

The Bulldogs made it a good ball game in the first half. Le Mars tied the game up at 16 mid-way through the second quarter, but that sparked a run for Unity Christian that saw them score 13 of the final 15 points in the first half. Head Coach Dave Irwin says that run and most of Unity’s points were sparked by careless Bulldog turnovers.

The Bulldog effort and intensity was never in question throughout the game especially on the defensive end. Coach Irwin says everything was done right outside of a handful of mistakes that gave the Knights some good looks.

The losses early in the season are painful, but the goal throughout the season for Le Mars is to get better through experience. Coach Irwin says games like this in December will hopefully set them up for success in January and February.

The Bulldogs got 11 points from Ben Martin and 10 points from Andrew Fifita in their varsity debuts. Unity Christian was led by Tyce Van Beek with 17 points. The Bulldogs turn things around and host Sergeant Bluff-Luton right away to start MRAC play.