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Otters deliver ‘truth’ to Cards [UPDATED]
Published 5:40am Monday, January 21, 2013 Updated 7:43am Monday, January 21, 2013One of the all-time great movie lines comes from actor Jack Nicholson in “A Few Good Men” in which he states, “you can’t handle the truth!” For the Alexandria Cardinal girls basketball team, the truth came in three forms: Otter team defense, Hanna Swenson and Brianna Rasmusson. Alexandria just couldn’t muster enough offense against the Otters swarming defense, falling 55-39 in their own gym.
Then they couldn’t handle Hanna Swenson around the basket as she had eight offensive rebounds, many for put-back lay-ups, shooting 7 for 9 on the night on the way to a double-double of 17 points and 11 rebounds.
Finally, the Cardinals just can’t find a defense to stop point guard Brianna Rasmusson. Alexandria tried man-to-man, a 1-3-1 zone, a 2-1-2 full court zone press, a full court man-to-man press and a triangle zone with chasers on Rasmusson and Bailey Strand, but they couldn’t stop Rasmusson from scoring 15 points and getting the ball up the court and into the offense with precision and minimal turnovers.
The result of the “truth” is another Otter victory, their 13th straight on the season, and a second victory on the season over the Cardinals.
Anna Monke also had a good stat line for the Otters, scoring 10 points, getting three rebounds, three assists, five steals and two blocked shots and along with Bailey Strand’s nine points, they balanced out the offense for the Otters.
The Otters were playing a little thin, with Devonie Smith having limited time just coming off the flu and reserves Kaitlin Capouch and Sam Velde with the band in Washington D.C.
Alexandria was led by Kallie Bowser with 16 points and Amanda Christianson added 12.
The Otters out-rebounded the Cardinals 27-21, but steals and turnovers were nearly even for the two teams. Fergus Falls shot 46 percent from the floor while Alexandria shot 38 percent. Swenson’s 7 of 9 shooting and Rasmusson’s 3 for 5 on two’s and 3 for 5 on three’s carried the day for the Otters.
“Hanna Swenson had a great effort tonight on both ends of the floor, defending, rebounding and shooting well to lead us tonight,” commented Otter coach Brad Strand. “Brianna did another great job of controlling our team and Bailey had a strong defensive effort on their leading scorer Christianson. Devonie put in a gutsy effort giving us strong minutes while feeling under the weather. It’s fun to play in the type of atmosphere the Alexandria gym and team brings and nice to leave there with a win.”
Alexandria won the JV game 49-32. Rachel Johnson led the Otters with a double-double of 18 points and 11 rebounds.
In ninth grade play, the Otters prevailed in a tight game 28-24. Hallie Bach led Fergus Falls with 11 points.
Fergus Falls moves to 13-0 on the season and 9-0 in the Central Lakes Conference and should retain their No. 1 ranking in Class AAA girls basketball. They return home next Tuesday night for a 7:30 p.m. tip-off against an always tough Hawley team.
