Spencer girls earn 1st conference win of season

By Valorie Brecht After a close battle, the Spencer Rockets defeated the Loyal Greyhounds at Loyal last Friday for their first conference win of the season. The victory was made more significant given the fact that Spencer only won one game in conference last year, so to achieve that milestone early on provided a confidence boost for the Rockets.

It was not an easy win by any stretch. Initially, the teams tied at 6, then again at 8,10 and 14. Spencer had a hard time containing Loyal’s offense in the first half, with Loyal beating them to the hoop a few times.

“Too many open shots! You need to get there quicker,” Kyle Davis coached the Spencer girls from the bench.

It took some time for the Rockets to figure out the Greyhounds’ offense and adapt, said their coach.

“In the beginning of the first half, our defense was kind of on the slower side. Maybe not effort wise, but just getting to our spots. We didn’t exactly know what we were doing. But in the end of the first half into the second half, they really improved and they picked it up. They had a little more confidence knowing what they were doing,” he said.

With about four minutes left in the first half, Spencer began to put more pressure on Loyal on defense, which led to Loyal getting a bit flustered and getting called for traveling twice in a row. After that, Spencer’s Alexa Weber made a jumper, followed by a corner shot by Emma Nieman. Loyal then put in a free throw. With less than a minute left, Autumn Davis made a layup. Loyal got the last word of the half though, with a 3-pointer from Mallory Jakobi, That left the score at 17-16.

In the second half, Carmen Krause got things going right away for the Rockets with a layup and was fouled on the way, leading to a 3-point play. Shortly after, Jakobi was fouled and went to the line, making both of her free throws to tie things up at 19. Spencer went ahead for a little while, then Loyal went ahead, but the teams ended up tying again at 27. By the time the clock had ticked down to 3:11, the teams were still neck-and-neck, with Spencer leading 33-32. Three costly Greyhound fouls over the next couple of minutes allowed Spencer to go up 3; plus Weber and Davis made buckets to send the Rockets ahead 40-32. That left Loyal in a tricky spot, suddenly facing an 8-point deficit with less than a minute to play.

To the Greyhounds’ credit, Olivia Nikolai used her adrenaline to drive to the basket for a layup. A teammate snagged the rebound and popped it back out to Nikolai, who waiting in the corner to down a three. Suddenly, it was just a 3-point game. Loyal wasted no time fouling Spencer on their next possession to get the ball back. It was an intentional foul, sending Spencer to the line to shoot three. However, none of the shots fell. Loyal got the ball and sent it quickly down the court, but the 3-point attempt was no good. A Greyhound fouled Autumn Davis and she made one of her shots to make it 41-37. That ended up being the final score, as the Greyhounds ran out of time to make anything else happen.

“I think our ball movement on offense and then our effort on defense (contributed to the win),” said Kyle Davis. “Our scoring was pretty even tonight and it was excellent.”

Leading the way in scoring for the Rockets was Autumn Davis, who had 16 points, including six 2-pointers. Emma Nieman had 9, including a 3-point basket. Weber and Krause each scored 7, with Krause’s points all coming in the latter half. Montanna Kohls chipped in 2 for the Rockets.

Kyle Davis pointed to the team’s effort as the main factor in their performance.

“I think the whole team did amazing. They just played their butts off, which is exactly what we want,” he said.

He hoped his team could continue to build off the momentum they had gained.

“Actually picking up an early win is definitely a confidence builder. I think this was a very big help,” said Kyle Davis.

He said the girls would be looking to add to their win total with the three additional conference games they would play in December. The Spencer girls indeed continued their winning ways when they traveled to Abbotsford Monday night. They defeated the Falcons 56-26.

The Loyal girls saw many players get a piece of the scoring pie Dec. 6. Jordynn Corder scored 8. Olivia Nikolai earned 7, including a shot from behind the arc. Autumn Zvolena had 6, as did Mallory Jakobi. Summer Smith had 4 points, all from the charity stripe. Payten Wolf also had 4 points. Alexis Meyer had 2.

VALORIE BRECHT/STAFF PHOTOS