The Le Mars basketball teams split road matchups with Council Bluffs Abraham Lincoln on Tuesday night.
The Lady Bulldogs started the night victorious in another tight ball game. They pulled out their second win in the MRAC by a final score of 46-42.
The Bulldogs found themselves behind right away to start the ball game trailing after one quarter by a 15-6 score. They would close the deficit to six by the halftime break, but the first half was really defined by missed opportunities. Le Mars Head Coach Cody Dyhrkopp says those missed opportunities really stung at the free throw line.
The second half was controlled by Le Mars. The Bulldogs outscored the Lynx 30-20 to pull ahead by four and win it. Of those 30 points, 12 of them were scored by Metta Skov who finished with another strong performance scoring 15 points on the night. She hit the go-ahead basket with less than a minute left in the game and made some big plays to get Le Mars back in it. Coach Dyhrkopp says they ask a lot of Skov, and she has responded well.
The win was especially impressive considering that the practice prior was not as crisp as it could have been. Ahead of a matchup with Western Christian quickly coming on Thursday, Coach Dyhrkopp wants to make sure the focus is there in future practices.
Lexi Hurd also contributed 11 points in the win. The Bulldogs are now 2-2 overall and 2-0 in the MRAC. Jeena Carle scored 15 for the Lynx as Council Bluffs AL falls to 3-1 overall and 1-1 in the MRAC.
The Bulldog boys finished the night on the wrong end of the scoreboard with a 60-53 loss to the Lynx boys.
Scoreboard aside, the Bulldogs proved that Friday night’s 36-26 disappointment to Sergeant Bluff-Luton would not be the norm. The Bulldogs played with energy and confidence in keeping the game within single digits and getting as close as one point late in the game. Head Coach Dave Irwin says his team proved that they could take coaching and get better from it.
Unfortunately, the silly mistakes came in a number of forms for the Bulldogs. Turnovers were one, but missed opportunities were another. The Bulldogs had enough tailor-made opportunities to score that were not converted that they could have flipped the score in their favor. Coach Irwin says getting better in these opportunities is non-negotiable.
The continued theme for the Bulldogs this year is improvement. The Bulldogs are 0-3 with a tough matchup at Western Christian on the schedule. Coach Irwin says the focus in practice will be primarily on making themselves better for the rest of the season.
The Bulldogs were led by Ben Martin who reached double digits with 12 points as the Bulldogs started the year 0-2 in the MRAC. Council Bluffs AL opens the year 2-0 behind 17 points from Cole Arnold.
