Sophomore guard suffers sprained ankle in 59-43 victory at Blue Earth Area

By JIM LUTGENS

Editor/Publisher

The NRHEG girls’ basketball team won a key game, but suffered a big loss.

During the second half of the Panthers’ 59-43 nonconference victory at Blue Earth Area Monday night, starting guard Jade Schultz went down with a severe ankle injury.

The good news is that Schultz has some time to heal before tournament play begins and the Panthers, rated No. 2 in the state in Class AA, won handily to improve to 24-0 overall.

“We were cold beyond the arc, shooting 1-17, but made up with it on the boards outrebounding BEA 40-19,” said NRHEG coach John Schultz. “We had troubles with Hassing roaming through our defense but kept their perimeter shooters in check. This was a great test for us playing a very athletic good defensive team like BEA. Anna Schlaak also had a good scoring night for us. She really helped carry us the first half with 11 of her points.”

Carlie Wagner scored 21 of her 29 points in the second half to lead the Panthers. She added six assists and five steals. Schlaak finished with 12 points and 10 rebounds. Others: Katie Cole six points; Tori Raimann four points, seven rebounds; Raelin Schue four points; Jade Schultz two points, six rebounds; Hannah Lundberg two points, seven rebounds.

The NRHEG B-squad won 51-20.

The Panthers hosted WEM last Thursday in a rematch of one of their closer games of the season. This one wasn’t close. The Panthers led 43-22 at halftime and won 72-48 at New Richland.

“Once again our main statistical focus was rebounds, where we double theirs 44-22,” said Coach Schultz. “Our trap worked much better this time. The kids really hustled on defense and shut down their inside game which gave us fits last time. The whole team saw action and got in on the win. Katie Cole had a huge night on defense;, she showed a lot of hustle and anchored us defensively. Anna Schlaak led us in a lot of stats for a great complete game; she also is a big part of our trap defense. Jade Schultz hit her threes when still close to give us a big lead. Carlie did a nice job going to the hoop and distributing the ball. We had a close game with them last time and it was nice to see us play better this time.”

Individually: Carlie Wagner 35 points, four assists, four steals; Jade Schultz 12 points, eight rebounds; Cole 11 points, five rebounds; Lundberg five points, seven rebounds; Schlaak four points, 11 rebounds, seven assists, seven steals; Schue three points; Raimann one point, four rebounds, four assists; Marnie Wagner one point.

NRHEG won the B-squad game 56-19.

The Panthers, 14-0 in the Gopher Conference with the championship clinched, finish the regular season this week, hosting Medford Tuesday and playing at Randolph Thursday.