Wheelers let one slip away at Griswold

Audubon drops WIC contest to Griswold 46-44, will host AHST Friday

By Drew Herron - AJ Sports Editor / Jan. 23, 2014

GRISWOLD – A frenzied final minute turned against Audubon’s favor Tuesday evening as Griswold triumphed over the Wheelers 46-44 in Western Iowa Conference play.

Audubon led by as much as seven points in the first quarter, and held a 30-24 lead at the halftime break before a disappointing second half took the wind out of the Wheelers’ sails.

Griswold outscored AHS 12-6 in the final eight minutes to work its way to a victory and secure a series split with their WIC rivals.

“We didn’t shoot very well and we didn’t finish down low,” Audubon coach Kim Subbert said afterwards. “They did a good job defending against Susie (Bylund), and she didn’t shoot very well…and all that hurt us. They took Susie out of the game, and we didn’t have enough other kids step up and score.”

Bylund still led the team with 16 points, but Griswold customized a 2-3 zone intent on keying in on the Wheelers’ top scorer, and limited her ability to shoot from where she’d like.

Despite the six-point lead at the break, coach Subbert says the team was tense and nervous, and simply didn’t play up to its potential in the second.

“Even with that six-point, I didn’t feel like we were playing very well,” coach Subbert says. “We had a lot of turnovers and silly mistakes all throughout the game.”

Griswold led twice briefly in the first half, then took their first lead of the second half with 3:50 remaining when Kayla Kirchhoff dropped in a lay-up to drive the Tigers ahead 40-38. Kirchhoff later hit two-of-two free throw attempts to push AHS out in front 43-39.

With 36 seconds left, Bylund knocked down a 3-pointer to pull within one point at 43-43, and Haillie Anthofer’s cutting lay-up with 19 seconds remaining reclaimed a short lead for the Wheelers.

With seven seconds remaining, Griswold’s Marquel Brunk sunk a close-range shot, and was fouled for the and-one, which she made to make it 46-44 Griswold.

Following a time out, Audubon drew up a plan that eventually had Bylund attempt a long-range shot from the top of the key that did not hit, clanking off the back iron.

It was a disappointing end that drops the team’s record to 6-8, but the Wheelers won’t let this one sting too long with AHST coming to town Friday (Jan. 24).  The Lady Vikes are 5-9, and defeated Audubon 54-52 during their first meeting on Dec. 13.

Coach Subbert expects a better effort Friday.

“We’ve got to come to play if we want to have a chance,” he said. “We can’t have stupid turnovers, we need to take care of the basketball. And box out, we gave away too many offensive rebounds in the second half that really cost us.”