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Otter girls win in Strand’s debut 75-57
Published 11:21am Friday, November 30, 2012The Otter girls basketball team kicked off the 2012-2013 season with a hard fought 75-57 victory over the DGF Rebels in Glyndon Thursday night.
In the first four minutes of the game, it looked like the Otters were still on the bus while D-G-F was going gangbusters to the basket, as the Rebels jumped out to a 12-1 lead.
It was obvious that D-G-F had already played a game prior to Thursday night and the Otters hadn’t, as the Otters uncharacteristically turned over the ball early while D-G-F went to the rim and got the Otters in early foul trouble. But the Otter defense kicked in to slow down D-G-F significantly and a Brianna Rasmusson drive to the basket at 13:20 in the first half got Fergus Falls going offensively.
After that, Otter newcomer Bailey Strand got hot and drained a couple of three’s and a couple of two-pointers to pull the Otters back into the game. Rasmusson drove some more and created some foul shots, making four of five in the first half, and the Otters eventually pulled ahead and ended the first half with a 35-29 lead, despite DGF shooting 18 first half free throws. In the second half, it was too much Bailey Strand for the Rebels to handle as she poured in 17 second half points to finish the night leading all players with 29. By 12:33 left in the second half, the Otters had extended their lead to 11 points and continued to pull away to a 19 point lead with five minutes in the game. New head coach Brad Strand then emptied his bench, giving every player some court time and the Otters finished with their 18 point margin of victory.
Mandy Mercil led D-G-F in scoring with 20 points, eight coming from the charity stripe. Kinze Molstre and Kelly Berge each contributed 12 points for the Rebels. Strand led the Otters with 29 points, and Rasmusson netted 16 while Anna Monke had a steady game with 12 points. Rasmusson was the floor leader for the Otters, having a strong stat line of 16 points, five rebounds, six assists and four steals. Devonie Smith grabbed five steals to lead the Otters in that category. Rebounding was close, with the Otters having 22 and DGF 19. The Otters had 20 assisted baskets which is a strong total. After a slow start with four turnovers in the first few minutes, the Otters ended up with just 15 turnovers for the game. DGF shot 35 free throws, while the Otters only shot 18, but DGF only made 15 baskets from the floor while the Otters made 28.
“We obviously didn’t start well tonight, but I liked the girls’ resolve in not playing in a panic mode, they played strong defense and found their offensive spots on the floor,” commented Otter head coach Brad Strand.
The Otters will have their home opener this Saturday at the Kennedy Secondary School Gold Gym, when they play Little Falls with a 7:30 tip-off.
Fergus Falls (75) – B. Strand 29, B. Rasmusson 16, A. Monke 12, D. Smith 8, H. Swenson 3, K. Traiser 2, K. Sawtell 2, A. Boese 2, K. Capouch 1.
D-G-F (57) – M. Mercil 20, K. Molstre 12, K. Berge 12, E. Driscoll 3, M. Geiser 3, D. Larson 2, A. Zutz 2, B. Honek 2, K. Highness 1.
