JWP girls split in TCU tournament

It was a pretty good winter break for the JWP girls’ basketball team. With wins hard to come by, the Bulldogs found one at Tri-City United’s holiday tournament on Dec. 29 and 30 against LeSueur-Henderson. A second win evaded them when the host Titans defeated them 54-51.

Bulldogs 75, LeSueur-Henderson 49

Sophomore Presley James and senior Faith Olson opened the scoring for the Bulldogs, contributing four points each. The offensive attack was so quick, in fact, that as soon as James and Olson each had a layup shot, LeSueur-Henderson called a timeout 90 seconds into the game.

After a few three-pointers, the Bulldogs were up 23-10 halfway into the first half. But a few fouls and some miscommunication between the girls allowed the Giants many opportunities for layup shots without anyone challenging them.

“At times there were a couple of communication breakdowns, and a lot of the time we got caught witching the ball instead of moving in transition,” JWP coach Cory Jans said. “There were also a few times where we got greedy and tried to play for steals with all five girls on one side of the floor.”

Defensively, the girls did much better in the second half. Freshman Nevaeh Weimert scored eight straight points to make it 41-22. After that, fellow freshman Katie Olson took over the scoring with five straight points. Even in the few minutes sophomore Brielle Bure got to play in the end, she contributed five points.

“It’s nice to have a full team capable of sharing the workload so we don’t become reliant on one or two players scoring all the points,” Jans said.

“The biggest takeaway from this game is how much we need to focus on the little things - boxing out, getting back on defense, and no cheap fouls,” Jans shared. “This game also showed up we can’t take plays off or relax in one facet of our game because that’s when bad things happen. Ironing out the little details will go a long way toward helping us progress and grow our game.”

Individually: Katie Olson, 13 points; Presley James, 12 points; Faith Olson, 11 points; Nevaeh Weimert, 10 points; Lilly Strauss, 7 points; Claire Walz, 6 points; Brielle Bure, 5 points; Paige Walz, 4 points; Lexie Dahlberg, 2 points; and Caitlin Kleve, 2 points.

TCU 54, Bulldogs 51

TCU’s Audrey Vosejpka was the problem for JWP, scoring 15 points, with every player on TCU contributing to the offense.

Katie Olson and sophomore Presley James had double-digit nights, scoring 15 and 11, respectively. Other contributors were Dahlberg with 7, F. Olson with 6, Strauss with 6, Krause with 4 points, and P. Walz with 2 points.

The Bulldogs host New Ulm Cathedral Saturday.