GIRLS HOOPS: Spartans cruise past CAM to win sixth straight game

Exira-EHK improves record to 13-4, will face CRB Friday

By Drew Herron - AJ/NT Sports / Jan. 29, 2014

ANITA - Generally, the course of the season provides its share of peaks and valleys.
Last Saturday (Jan. 25) at home, the Spartans pulled off their biggest victory of the season, stunning first-place Ar-We-Va with a 52-48 win that was the team’s fifth in a row.
On Tuesday night, Exira-EHK rolled into Anita to face CAM (3-15), a team they had handled by 20 points just before Christmas.
This time around, the Spartans got a similar result, defeating the Cougars by 16 points (47-31), though the performance was not up to code for the hottest team in the Rolling Valley Conference.
Spartans head coach Tom Petersen says he felt the vibes in the locker room and was concerned about CAM, even before the opening tip.
“When you’ve done this as long as I have, you can when your team is ready and focused,” he said. “I saw it before we even took the floor, the intensity level wasn’t there. We just did not that tonight. Just really out of sync.”
Exira-EHK was never threatened, but CAM did just enough to frustrate the Spartans from ever breaking off a series of long runs.
By their own standards, the Spartans were lethargic and slow defensively, which led to foul trouble. Couple that with poor shooting, and Exira-EHK was leaving a window open for the overmatched Cougars.
“Four games left…that’s why I am so disappointed,” coach Petersen says. “The girls should be excited to get to this time of year, tournament time is right around the corner. We can’t take a step backwards, and I really felt like we did tonight.”
Coach Petersen concedes there is always a potential letdown after an emotional victory such as the one Saturday night at home against Ar-We-Va, but this team doesn’t have the luxury of a letdown.
“We have this game and now four more before be go into the tournament…this kind of stuff shouldn’t be happening,” coach Petersen says. “After the game, we told the girls that it is a win, and we will get back to work in practice. It’s important that everyone knows that we’ve got a short time to get better, and we can’t take any steps back. Tonight, I think we went into a state of regression.”
Exira-EHK led 27-12 at the half, and 36-21 after three quarters. Early in the fourth quarter, the Spartans pushed their lead to as much as 20, though minutes later, CAM would cut their deficit to 12. The game finished in the middle with a 16 point difference, a comfortable enough cushion for the Spartans, just not the way the staff wanted to see the team go about it.
Turnovers continue to bug the Spartans this season, and it proved again to be a fly in the ointment Tuesday. The Spartans turned the ball over 19 times, a figure too high for coach Petersen’s liking.
“It’s still too many,” he says. “It would be different if they were pressing us. But to turn the ball over that many times in a half court set, it’s disappointing.”
Three Spartans finished in double figures, led by 14 points from Claire Paulsen. Paulsen knocked down three 3-pointers in the first half, and another in the fourth to finish with four on the night.
Also scoring in double figures was Mara Burmeister (13) and Rachel Smith (11).
The Spartans resume action Friday at home against Coon Rapids-Bayard, a squad who defeated them by double digits back on Jan. 3, the teams’ first game back after Christmas Break. Exira-EHK seems to be playing much better ball at this stage four weeks later, and has its sights set on a series split with CRB.
“I like the direction we are going,” coach Petersen says. “Last Saturday, the intensity against Ar-We-Va was the best we’ve had all year. But that’s something you need to continue, you just don’t do that for one game. We talk about that…we need to continue that throughout.”