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Published in the Citizen Herald Nov. 26, 2008
By Jon Hapgood
Beth Kuenstling scored 16 points and grabbed 15 rebounds to lead the Dunkerton Girls’ Basketball in their opening basketball game last Friday night.
The Raiders lost to the Nashua-Plainfield Huskies by the score of 53-30, in the opening tournament game at Dunkerton on November 21.
Nashua-Plainfield led 29-22 with 7:23 remaining in the game, when the Huskies exploded on a 16-2 run in a period of 4 minutes, to grab the victory going away.
The game had been closely played in a defensive struggle up to the final 7 minutes.
Both teams experienced cold shooting, and each team displayed good defensive play throughout a greater portion of the contest.
N-P finally broke the game wide open as junior guard Casandra Martin scored five quick baskets in a very short period of time. She made four of those baskets in a row, and added a free throw for 11 points during that span of time.
Alicia Martin added five points in the run, as the Huskies opened up a 45-24 lead with three minutes remaining.
In the first quarter, N-P outscored Dunkerton 16-9, and the Huskies led 24-16 at the halftime intermission.
After a low-scoring third quarter, the final quarter provided the fireworks for the game.
Dunkerton handled the ball well early in the game, but as the Raiders got more tired later in the game, the passing accuracy dropped off.
The Raiders were looking more to pass than shoot, consequently, not many points were scored.
Dunkerton did look very good on defense, until they tired late in the game.
Beth Kuenstling led the Dunkerton team with 16 points and 15 rebounds.
Beth looked good in her first game of the year. She did get into early foul trouble, but she managed to play through the foul problem for the remainder of the game.
Jenna Nagel followed with 10 points from her point guard position. Jenna handled the ball nicely, and generally played a good game.
Kristin Pipho and Jordan Etringer scored two points each for the Raiders.
Jordan Etringer had 5 rebounds, April Kimball had 5 rebounds, and Kristin Pipho had 4 rebounds.
New Dunkerton Head Coach Gene Groen said, “We hung right in there with Nashua-Plainfield for most of the game. N-P was quick and speedy, but we rebounded right with them.”
Coach Groen added, “Did you see how many ‘bunnies’ under the basket we missed? I told the girls we want to be playing at the top of our game in mid-February. This is only our first game together as a team, with a new coach and a new system.”
Dunkerton played New Hampton in the second game of the tournament at Sumner, on November 24.
The Raiders open Iowa Star Conference action on Tuesday, December 2, by playing at Clarksville. Game time is 6:30 PM. It is a JV/Varsity doubleheader.
Dunkerton will host CAL in another conference game on Friday, December 5. Game time if 6:30 PM. |
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