Last week the Lennox High School girls’ basketball team enjoyed a busy week, with games against Elk Point Jefferson, Baltic and Clark/Willow Lake.
On Tuesday, Feb. 4 the Orioles hosted Elk Point Jefferson and went toe-to-toe with the Huskies in the back and forth battle. Unfortunately, the Huskies edged Lennox for the 45-44 victory.
“We had a great start to the game, but we let them gain their footing at the end of the first quarter and from then on it was a back-and-forth battle. In the fourth quarter we didn’t execute offensively, and we weren’t as sound as we needed to be in order to knock off a team as talented as EPJ,” said Oriole head coach Adam Quail.
A bright spot for the Orioles was Karlie Bosma’s shooting from the three-point line. Bosma went six of eight from downtown to tie the school record for threes made in a game.
“Karlie Bosma really had a breakout game,” said Quail.
Bosma finished with 18 points, two rebounds, and one assist. Bergan Musser finished with eight points, one rebound, and three steals. Andie Peters had seven points and three assists. Ryan Hanssen finished with six points, four rebounds, and one steal. Libby Kranz added five points, nine rebounds, one assist and two steals. Gavyn Herlyn gabbed four rebounds, had two steals, and a team-high seven assists.
On Thursday, Feb. 6 the LHS girls hosted Baltic. This also marked senior night for the Orioles who honored their two seniors: Ryan Hanssen and Gavyn Herlyn.
The Orioles shot over 44 percent from the field while Baltic shot just over 28 percent. Lennox jumped ahead early and never looked back, taking the commanding 65-28 victory.
“Baltic was our Senior Night and we did a nice job of honoring our two seniors with how we played as we took control of the game early and didn’t look back. I was encouraged by our thirteen offensive rebounds, twenty-five assists, all while only committing a single turnover,” said Quail.
Hanssen led the team in scoring with 19 points. She also had four rebounds, four assists and one steal. Kranz chipped in an efficient 14 points on eight field goal attempts. She pulled down five rebounds, had three assists and two steals.
Musser and Tori Gerdes each had seven points. Musser also had three rebounds, two assists and two steals. Gerdes pulled down three rebounds.
Heryln, Peters, and Bosma each finished with six points. Herlyn also had two rebounds, four assists and two steals. Peters grabbed two rebounds and had four assists. Bosma grabbed six off the board, had four assists and three steals. Mia Hanisch had three assists in the game.
On Saturday, Feb. 8 the Orioles competed in the Day XII/NEC Clash in Madison, facing off against Clark/Willow Lake.
Once again Lennox had a quick start and used a 23-10 third quarter advantage to pull away and get the 60-26 victory.
“This was probably our best game vs a quality opponent this season as I thought we had them back on their heels the whole game. Defensively we held them to 26.1% shooting while forcing them into 23 turnovers,” said Quail. “I was also encouraged to see that we made more free throws than they attempted as Clark/Willow Lake only shot two.”
Kranz led the team with 12 points, six rebounds and four steals while Musser also played well ending with 11 points, three rebounds, two assists and three steals. Bosma and Herlyn also chipped in with ten points each. Hanssen contributed seven, Peters six and Gerdes four.
The Orioles will be on the road this Friday, Feb. 14 when they take on Hanson in a 6:15 p.m. match-up. They will be at Beresford on Feb. 18 and at Tri-Valley on Feb. 20.