Hoops and hockey keep prep scene lively

Girls basketball: Tigers 64, Monte 49
The M-CA girls climbed back to within one game of .500 with a very satisfying Friday triumph. Tiger athletics is navigating through a winter that has become problematic for getting games in, such is the accumulation of snow, the gusty winds and plummeting temperature. But we love it here, right?
And those bad conditions abated long enough for the Morris Chokio Alberta student athletes to see plenty of game action. Friday was a busy night after the problematic (from a weather standpoint) Thursday. Fans Friday got to see the M-CA girls score 64 points to the Montevideo Thunder Hawks' 49.
Coach Dale Henrich's squad came out of the night with a 5-6 overall record and 3-4 in conference.
M-CA led 25-18 halfway through this home game.
The Tigers made 21 of 63 shots from the field and were two of nine in three-pointers. Katie Holzheimer made both of those long-rangers.
The most productive scorers for M-CA were Beth Holland and Erica Domnick. Each of these Tigers pumped in 14 points, helping the squad assert itself vs. the visitor. Erin Schieler was the other double figures scorer with her eleven points.
Sarah Kuhn came through with eight points while Holzheimer and Hannah Sayles each put in six. The scoring list is rounded out by Holly Amundson (2), Kelsey Loew (2) and Elizabeth Helberg (1).
Domnick and Schieler each snared seven rebounds followed by Kuhn with six. Holland dished out five assists to set the pace there. She also stole the ball three times.
The Tigers were sharp in freethrow shooting where 20 of their 29 attempts were successful.
Montevideo is in a dues-paying type of season with losses coming regularly. Amber Barnes led the Thunder Hawks Friday, scoring 16 points and collecting seven rebounds. Alyssa Doty put in 13 points in the losing cause for her team.

Boys basketball: Montevideo 59, Tigers 51
The M-CA boys also had Montevideo as their Friday opponent. The Monte girls may be struggling this season but the Thunder Hawk boys are quite on top of things. They entered Friday's game at their home gym undefeated and were relieved to survive the Friday action with yet another win.
M-CA came at the Thunder Hawks with a relentless long-range shooting attack in the second half. It worked to a large extent. Unfortunately the Tigers had gotten into too deep a hole prior to that.
Coach Mark Torgerson's boys trailed 31-15 at the half. The Tigers outscored Monte 36-28 the rest of the way. Do the arithmetic and you'll find that the Tigers' late charge wasn't quite sufficient.
Montevideo won this game 59-51 and entered the weekend with 12-0 overall won-lost numbers and 7-0 in conference.
The Tigers were 50 percent in their three-point shooting on the night, making six of twelve. Brody Bahr connected for two of those long-range successes. One each came from Cole Riley, Dan Tiernan, Tyler Roske and Alex Erickson.
In total field goals the Tigers made 22 of 47 attempts. Freethrow attempts were meager and in this department, the team numbers were one of three.
Montevideo looked to have this game locked up with 12 minutes left to play. There was a scoreboard bulge of 22 points. Were we about to see "garbage time?" Absolutely not!
The Tigers focused from three-point range and proceeded to give the Thunder Hawks a real scare in front of their home crowd. Five of eight three-point tries found the mark in a key stretch, enabling the undaunted orange and black crew to carve the deficit all the way down to a negligible two points!
Monte was getting more shots at the freethrow line than M-CA. Montevideo made its last four freethrow shots to preserve the scoreboard advantage, but surely they retired to their locker room with a big sigh of relief.
(. . ."And stop calling me Shirley." - Leslie Nielsen, RIP)
The Tigers came out of the night at 9-3 in overall won-lost. In conference: 5-2.
Cole Riley was the top M-CA scorer Friday with 15 points. Mac Kampmeier and Brody Bahr each connected for eight, and Tyler Roske put in seven. Continuing with the scoring list: Dan Tiernan (5), Alex Erickson (3), Cody Cannon (2), Riley Arndt (2) and Eric Riley (1).
Kampmeier with his six rebounds led in that category. Alex Erickson and Eric Riley each produced four assists, and Eric Riley stole the ball twice.
Jacobey Johnson was Monte's top scorer with 13 points.

Girls hockey: Storm 8, Marshall 0
Friday was quite a night for the MBA Storm hockey girls, who are developing into quite the upper-crust team. Their assignment Friday was to play Marshall, and they came through with a shutout win, 8-0, upping their season record to 14-3. In league they sport 4-0 numbers.
Dani Schultz was a terror on the ice in the eyes of the opponent. She handled the puck with great proficiency to get it past the Marshall goalie regularly.
Marshall goalie Paige Moravetz won't want to see Schultz again anytime soon. Moravetz may have had 38 saves Friday but her efforts were often futile against prolific scorer Schultz.
The MBA goalie was Brooke Falk who had 14 saves.
Morris Benson skated out to a 4-0 advantage in the first period. From there they outscored Marshall 2-0 in each of the remaining two periods. Schultz scored at 1:35 of the opening period with assists from Monica Lindblad and Sam Falk.
It was Kelly Mahoney scoring the Storm's second goal and this came at 3:37 of the first. Lindblad assisted. Mahoney put the Storm up 3-0 with a goal at 7:23 of the second, assisted by Schultz.
Sara Rajewsky scored the Storm's fourth goal at 11:37 with an assist from Schultz.
Schultz scored both of the second period goals. She sent the puck into the net assisted by Rajewsky and Mahoney at 8:05. Then she scored with an unassisted flourish at 15:05.
Schultz scored both of the third period goals as well, as MBA put finishing touches on this most pleasing night at home. Schultz scored in unassisted style at 5:28 of the third. She scored an unassisted shorthanded goal at 10:25.
Falk's shutout in goal was the 21st of her career.

Boys hockey: Storm 2, Marshall 2
There was boys hockey to be enjoyed as well on Friday. It was a game neither to celebrate nor to frown about, for Storm fans.
The ambivalence is due to the fact this game ended in a tie! Overtime failed to produce a victor (0-0) so the final score ended up 2-2 against Marshall.
The goal-scoring for Morris Benson was done by Tyler Hansen and Tanner Picht. MBA scored its goals in the second period as did Marshall. MBA was outshot by the visiting Marshall Tigers 45-30. Andrew Fath worked in goal for MBA and his save total was 43. Marshall goalie Andrew Noble picked up 28 saves.
The MBA Storm came out of the night with an 8-5-1 season record and 4-0-1 in league.
Picht scored a power play goal at 11:10 of the second period, assisted by Mac Beyer and Jordan Staples. Hansen scored his goal at 12:17 of that period, in unassisted style.
The teams skated with determination in the overtime extension of play, but the defenses stiffened and both teams had to accept the lukewarm outcome of a tie.
Marshall is a quite impressive unit this winter, owner of an 11-4-2 overall record coming out of Friday. In league those skaters are 8-0-1.
MBA could get some satisfaction fighting this foe to a stalemate.
Whether it's the Storm or the Tigers you're cheering for, there's abundant sports entertainment left on the winter calendar for Morris Benson (hockey) and Morris Area Chokio Alberta (basketball).
-Brian Williams - morris mn Minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com