Blossoms miss chances

Missed opportunities may have cost the Blooming Prairie girls basketball team the chance for a big upset, but United South Central survived a 55-44 victory over BP on the Blossoms’ home floor. 
The locals managed just five points in the last four minutes, which included three turnovers, four missed shots and a deficit in rebounding.
Two of the missed opportunities came from the inability to make free throws. The girls had a chance to grab a lead at the half, but missed two free throws just before the buzzer. Five minutes into the second half BP had another chance to tie or go ahead, but again missed two straight free throws. USC prevailed from that point on. 
“We played some of our best basketball of the season,” commented Coach John Bruns, “but a few missed free throws, a few turnovers, and missed shots at inopportune times hurt us greatly tonight. We had chances to take control several times, but we missed the chances, and USC was able to counter.” 
The locals had no answer for the Rebels’ Shianne Robertson, who was an unyielding force inside and finished the game with 23 points. Center Lauren Allis added 13 points for the winners. Kalyn Naatz led a balanced attack for the Blossoms with 13 points, and Kaci Gwilt and Lauren Larkoski each chipped in with eight. 
 USC shot 46 percent for the game, while the locals were making 35 percent of their attempts. The Rebels had a one-rebound edge 29-28, and both teams had 14 turnovers in the game.  It was actually a much closer game than the final score would indicate, but it still went into then books as a loss for BP.  The Blossoms dropped to 12-6 overall and 5-4 in conference play. USC improved to13-4 overall and 5-3 in the conference.
Coach Cory Hendrickson’s junior varsity team defeated USC, 48-30 in the prelim.  The team played good defense, and 10 different girls scored on offense. Sam Wurst led the attack with 15 points to help improve the JV record to 10-7.
 Girls survive cold night
In the lowest-scoring game of the season, the BP girls survived a cold–shooting night and a rugged Medford squad in a 35-30 victory on the home court Tuesday, Jan. 26.  The game featured play when several minutes came off the clock with neither team scoring a point. 
BP led 4-0 after the first three minutes, and the locals slowly pulled away. The   Tigers counted only three points in the last three minutes of the half to trail 19-9 at the break.  Medford, however, outscored the Blossoms 21-16 in the second half to put pressure on the locals.  Four minutes went by at the start of the second half, before either team could score a basket. 
As Coach John Bruns commented, “The shots just wouldn’t fall tonight, but we kept our defensive composure and got stops when we needed them. We only allowed five offensive rebounds, while we managed 18 ourselves. Those extra possessions are huge when the shots aren’t falling.”
The team shot just 29 percent from the field, while Medford made 31 percent of their attempts. BP went 0-for-7 from three-point range.  Kylie Forystek led a balanced offense for the Blossoms with 11 points, and Kalyn Naatz and McKenna Hein each added six. The Blossoms made just 4-of-14 free throws in the game, after making 15-of-17 in their previous game. 
Emma Kniefel, an eighth-grader, had 10 points for Medford.  BP led the rebounding 42-37, and had 15 turnovers to 19 for the visitors. Kaci Gwilt had six rebounds, four assists and three steals for the winners.
The JV team played a tremendous first half on the way to a 58-37 victory in their prelim. McKenna Hein only played the first half, but scored 19 points and had numerous steals.  Sam Wurst added 10 points, and nine girls counted at least one point in the game.
It was a different story for the C squad in its prelim, as Medford coasted to a 43-19 victory.  It was another case of not being able to put the ball in the basket for the locals.  Riauna Bishop had five points, and Marti Snider and Rachael Oswald counted four points each.