MIDDLE POINT-Both Spencerville and Lincolnview kicked off the 2023 schedule on Thursday night at Lincolnview. The Lady Bearcats forced the Lancers to take some difficult shots and made some timely baskets of their own to pick up the 51-34 victory.
“It was nice for us to be able to get back to practice this week,” said Spencerville head coach Greg Ekis. “Over the break we had some games and we had three really good days of practice to get us how we wanted to play the game of basketball.”
Kirsten Wurst was the spark plug for the Bearcats in the opening quarter. A pair of Wurst’s baskets sparked an 8-0 scoring run to begin the game and put Lincolnview behind the ropes early.
Makayla Jackman ended the run with a three pointer but Wurst responded with a three of her own to lead 11-3. Addysen Stevens connected on a basket to get within 11-5 but Sydney Lemar answered with a bucket to lead 13-5.
The Lancers made a run in the second quarter as a 10-2 scoring run that featured four points each from Jackman and Keira Breese that forced a Spencerville timeout.
“We made a run there in the second quarter and we forced back on them but we have to be consistent in what we do.” said Lincolnview head coach Kyle Williams.
Spencerville responded with five straight points on a basket by Gabi Croft and a three pointer from Heidi Keller to stretch the lead to 22-17.
Spencerville stretched the lead to double digits before halftime as a three pointer from Keller made it 25-17 before a basket by Wurst extended the lead to 27-17.
“Kirsten is a four year letter winner for us and it took her (Wurst) a little bit of time for her to settle in” continued Ekis. “She is doing a great job right now with shooting the ball well and she’s finishing the ball well.”
The Spencerville defense continued to create havoc on the Lancers as they managed to score just three field goals in the quarter. Emerson Walker scored all the Lincolnview points to keep the hosts in it.
The duo of Wurst and Keller was far from letting up as they scored 12 of the team’s 14 third quarter points to lead 41-24.
The shots were hard to come by in the final quarter as both defenses stifled before the final buzzer.
Jackman and Breese had scored five points each in the quarter but the deficit proved to be too much to overcome as Croft scored four points in the quarter to pick up the 51-34 victory.
“We will start to prepare for New Knoxville and watch some film tomorrow,” concluded Ekis. “We’ll practice Saturday and Monday to get back at it and we’re looking forward to playing a home game and playing a team that was in the state finals a year ago.”
Spencerville improves to 5-7 on the season and will host New Knoxville on Tuesday. Lincolnview drops to 6-7 and will host Antwerp the same day.
Spencerville 13 – 14 – 14 – 10 – 51
Lincolnview 5 – 12 – 7 – 10 – 34
Spencerville (51)
Heidi Keller (18) Kirsten Wurst (17) Gabi Croft (6) Clara Goecke (5) Sydney Lemar (4) Eilan Muniz (1)
Lincolnview (34)
Makayla Jackman (12) Keira Breese (9) Emerson Walker (9) Addysen Stevens (2) Carsyn Looser (2)
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