Loyal girls defeat Spencer after close 1st half

By Valorie Brecht The Loyal girls basketball team defeated the Spencer Rockets at Spencer last Thursday after struggling to get their momentum going for a good portion of the game.

The game opened with a 2-point basket from Loyal’s Olivia Nikolai, followed by a 2-pointer from Spencer’s Hannah Schreiner. From there, it was off to the races. Loyal’s Autumn Zvolena made a 3-pointer; then Spencer’s Emma Nieman scored two. Montanna Kohls put in a 3-pointer for Spencer and Loyal responded with two from Annika Schley. The teams tied at 7 and 12.

Loyal finally broke free and went on a 7-point run to go up 19-12. However, the Greyhounds also missed some opportunities by missing four free throws in a row. The Rockets were making their share of mistakes too, getting called for a five-second violation and traveling.

Before the half was over, Spencer cleaned up its act and finished on a high note by scoring four points off two fast breaks by Alexa Weber. Loyal had the last word of the half, with Nikolai making a quick pass inside to post player Mallory Jakobi for the basket. That left the score 21-16, Spencer trailing, at the half.

“It was nice to get some post touches tonight. Our post players got touches. It just took us a little while to get going, (and to figure out) how are we going to break that 1-2-2 that they were playing against us. But for the most part the kids adapted as we played, which was a good thing,” said Loyal coach Mike Rueth.

The second half saw the Greyhounds start out strong with a 3-point basket from Jakobi. The Greyhounds continued their onslaught, running off 10 points before Spencer was able to cut in. That left the score at 31-16. However, Spencer kept fighting and went on a 5-point run of its own. By the time there were five minutes left in the half, Spencer had cut down the lead to 11, Loyal still ahead 37-26. That was a little too close for comfort for Rueth. He chalked it up to inconsistent play on his team’s part.

“The unfortunate thing for us is that we just play too inconsistent, like we have stretches where we look really good, eight points in a row. And then we have stretches where we turn the ball over three possessions in a row. So we just have to clean some of that stuff up,” he said.

The Greyhounds did manage to turn things around and run off another 10 points before all was said and done, while Spencer only mustered two. That left the final score at 47-26, giving Loyal another conference win and boosting their record to 4-5. Nikolai scored more than a third of Loyal’s points, with 16. She scored three 3-pointers and made three of four free throws. The next highest scorer for Loyal was Schley, with eight points, including three consecutive free throws in the first half. “I real like how Annika Schley’s been playing lately. She gives us a post presence. She’s really doing a nice job. She gets to the free throw line. She’s a quality time player. So I’ve really been impressed with how she’s played the last few games,” said Rueth. Other points scorers for Loyal were Zvolena (6), Jakobi (5), Payten Wolf (5), Jordynn Corder (4), Hannah Strey (2), and Summer Smith (1). Zvolena had five rebounds. Although it was a win, Rueth said it wasn’t the best he had seen his team play. “There were just some things we were doing offensively that I didn’t like. I felt like we didn’t share the ball enough. We didn’t square up and see the full floor. We had tunnel vision at times. So we talked at the break that we just need to get better at those things and we just can’t wait to get to practice tomorrow to just continue to work on those things and get better.”

The Rockets saw six players score points in last Thursday’s game. They were impeded by the loss of their top scorer, Autumn Davis, who observed from the bench. Davis was on medical leave, having collapsed during the Columbus game the week prior.

The other Spencer players who stepped up to fill in the gap included Weber, who scored eight points, including four free throws; Ema Schultz, who picked up seven points and shot 3-for-3 from the floor; Kohls with six points; Nieman with three points; and Schreiner with two.

Above, Payten Wolf sinks a basket for Loyal during the girls game at Spencer last Thursday night. She had five points on the night. Below, Spencer’s Ema Schultz uses her vertical to avoid a Loyal defender and score two for Spencer. She had seven points in the Jan. 23 game.

VALORIE BRECHT/STAFF PHOTOS