Junior scores season-high 25 as Exira-EHK wins seventh straight game
By Drew Herron - AJ/NT Sports / Jan. 31, 2014
ELK HORN – Spartans’ sophomore Rachel Smith led all scorers with 25 points as she willed her team to a 50-40 victory Coon Rapids-Bayard Friday night.
The victory is Exira-EHK’s seventh in a row, and it marks the second time in a week the Spartans have knocked off a conference opponent who has already beaten them earlier this season, and who hovers above them in the standings.
Exira-EHK improved to 15-4 on the season after pocketing this latest win while they remain in contention to win the inaugural conference title for the Rolling Valley.
“I do think we’ve seen steady and constant improvement,” Spartans head coach Tom Petersen says. “But obviously we’ve got a long ways yet to go.”
The Spartans helped their cause Friday against CRB, who had defeated EEHK soundly (48-33) in the first meeting back from the Christmas Break on Jan. 3.
EEHK opened well and led early before CRB clawed back to trail by five (27-22) at the half. Coach Petersen felt his team’s defense was out of position too often in the first half, and that was something the coaches sought to address at the break. It yielded too many open looks and uncontested shots, and beckoned for an adjustment in the second half.
CRB had cut things to a one-point game (34-33) midway through the third quarter before Smith would step up and take charge.
As the Spartans held a 36-33 lead in the closing seconds of the third, Smith did an excellent job in the front court by killing some clock, fighting off a double team and dropping back off a dribble-drive ploy that left her with a clean screen at the top of the key. She knocked down the 3-ball as time expired, and it light a fire under the Spartans and the home crowd.
“That sort of gave her a shot of adrenaline,” coach Petersen says.
“After the first quarter, I was pretty upset with her. She’s got the ball in her hands, and she keeps passing up the shot. That’s a three-year starter, I want the ball in her hands at the end of every quarter, and she should want that too.”
At gave EEHK a 39-33 lead, and CRB was never the same.
Scoring was in a lull at the start of the fourth quarter as more than two minutes would elapse before the first points hit. With 6:10 left, the Spartans called a timeout to draw up a play after so much misfire from tired legs. About 20 seconds later, Smith knocked down another 3-pointer that pushed the Spartans out front by 11 points at 44-33, and a game that once teetered on a one-point difference in the second half permanently fell into EEHK’s favor.
Smith is the team’s leading scorer at 14.0 PPG, but coach Petersen is counting on bigger things late in the season from the well-seasoned junior.
“For us to be in top form…at our best as a team, she has to be at her best night in and night out,” coach Petersen says of Smith. “When she is at the top of her game, I think we are a very good basketball team.”
Game Scoring (01/31):
EXIRA-EHK (14-4/13-4): Rachel Smith 25, Mara Burmeister 9, Claire Paulsen 7, Sydney Parker 5, Sadie Schultes 2, Kennedy Madsen 2 Free Throws: 4/10
CRB (15-5/15-4): Kelsey Winnett 10, Rylie Schelpp 10, McKenna Zancers 9, Hailey Cook 5, Nicole Dentlinger 3, Katilyn Culbertson 2, Cassie Blass 1 Free Throws: 4/14
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