Spartans drop season opener to Tigers
Approaching the end of the third quarter of Tuesday’s game with the Exira-EHK Spartans girls basketball team trailing by 10, Woodbine Tiger Senior Charlie Pryor launched a shot from 3-point range, giving her team a 41-28 lead heading into the final quarter en route to a 55-39 win, handing the Spartans their first loss.
“There’s some things that you can control in the game of basketball and that’s defense and rebounding, and we didn’t do either of them,” said Spartan Head Coach Tom Petersen. “They [Woodbine] just absolutely destroyed us on the glass. Very disappointed in that. We’ve got to get better starting tomorrow in practice.”
The Tigers scored first in the game when Junior Isabell Crook made a shot at the basket. The Spartans responded back when Sophomore Taryn Petersen came up with a layup tying the game at two. The Tiger offense went on a 5-0 run with a mid-range jump shot from Pryor and a 3-pointer from Junior Bridgette Kelley before Tom Petersen called a timeout.
When play resumed, both exchanged buckets with the final shot of the quarter coming from Sophomore Spartan Riley Miller, cutting the Tiger lead to 14-10.
The second quarter began with Junior Tiger Taylor Hoefer scoring first, followed by two free throws from Taryn Petersen, but then the Tigers went on a 4-0 run with back-to-back shots from Hoefer and Danyelle Steinkuehler putting the Tigers up 20-12.
Later on in the quarter, Freshman Spartan Zoey Rasmussen made a 3-point shot cutting the lead back to three points, but just before the half concluded, Pryor knocked down a 3-point buzzer beater giving her team a 26-17 lead at halftime.
“We had zero blocking out again,” Petersen said. “It’s a choice and rebounding is effort. You’ve got to get all five on board. It’s got to be five girls doing the same thing together every time down the floor.”
When the third quarter began, the Spartans struck first when Junior Brylie Anderson cut the Tiger lead to six with a shot from 3-point range. However, the Tigers offense found a groove and took command with multiple free throws, including the final shot of the quarter coming from Pryor from 3-point range making it a 41-28 Tiger lead.
Hoefer opened the final quarter with a 3-point shot. The Spartans responded with back-to-back buckets from Kadence Sporrer and Taryn Petersen, but it wasn’t enough as the offense continued to stay quiet with the Tigers defense being able to stop some of the Spartans best shooters.
“You’ve got to be willing to put time in,” Petersen said. “You’ve got to put time in outside of practice in order for shots to fall, and when you don’t do that consistently, shots won’t just go in by themselves.”
The Spartans return to action Friday on the road against the 2-0 Boyer Valley Bulldogs, who are coming off a 68-17 win against Paton-Churdan. Last season, the Bulldogs finished 7-15 losing 55-21 to Riverside in the Class 1A – Region 5 First Round Tournament Game. The Bulldogs were led by Sylvia Sullivan averaging 9.2 points per game, Jessica O’Day averaging 10 rebounds per game, and Maria Puck averaging 3.6 assists per game.
“I think we probably need to spend 30 minutes on some different rebounding drills,” Petersen added. “Boyer Valley defeated Denison in a scrimmage, they beat Logan-Magnolia. We’re going to have to play a hell of a lot better than we did tonight.”