Kernel girls drop third consecutive

YANKTON — From both a figurative and literal sense, the Yankton Gazelles rebounded in a big way.

This time, it was as a ranked team.

Keyed by a 45-24 edge in rebounds, the third-ranked Gazelles defeated Mitchell 49-41 in an Eastern South Dakota Conference girls’ basketball game Tuesday night.

All night, the Gazelles were able to get second — and sometimes third — chances on offensive rebounds.

According to Yankton coach Doug Pesicka, the extra time the Gazelles put in on rebounding during Monday’s practice seemed to work.

“We have a little drill we do that’s not a lot of fun,” Pesicka said. “We put a bubble on the basket so every shot’s a miss, and the girls have to get in there and fight for the ball.

“All that hard work definitely paid off.”

A continual problem for the Kernels (2-5) all night was missed looks at the rim, as at least 10 relatively simple shots rattled out. Adding to that, a 9-for-18 effort at the free-throw line didn’t help matters.

“For some reason, a lot of little easy looks just didn’t go down for us,” Mitchell coach Wes Morgan said. “You’ll have some nights like this, but we can’t have that and being out-played in the same night.”

After sitting out Saturday’s loss at Rapid City Stevens with the flu, Mitchell 6-foot sophomore forward Kerri Young led the Kernels with 16 points. She came in averaging 21.3 points in the three games she’s played this season.

Young drained a 3-pointer just 1:28 into the game to give the Kernels a 5-2 lead. But from there, the Gazelles took over.

Yankton’s Emily Anderson hit a long 3-pointer as the Gazelles took a 17-8 lead after the first quarter.

The Kernels made a quick rally to start the second quarter, cutting the deficit to 19-13 on a Young jumper in transition.

The Kernels put together a 6-0 run to pull within 23-19, but a pair of 3-pointers by Fedders brought the lead out to 29-21. After two Mitchell baskets, Yankton’s Buckman beat the halftime buzzer with a layup, giving Yankton a 31-25 cushion.

Rebounding was the area where the game was decided through the first two quarters, as Yankton led that stat 25-11. Included in that advantage were 12 offensive rebounds.

Yankton’s biggest lead of the game was at 40-29, when Anderson connected on a jumper. Mitchell closed the quarter with two straight baskets to close within 40-33 — yet Yankton was still in control.

A layup from Fedders began the scoring in the fourth quarter, and the teams traded baskets from there over the next four minutes.

Chloe Cornemann hit the second of two free throws to give Yankton a 47-37 lead with 2:33 to play. Up by eight with under two to play, the Gazelles got two offensive rebounds to run some time off the clock.

Riley Paulsen hit two free throws and Mitchell’s Kristin Sabers sank a layup with 16 seconds to play, and YHS ran out the clock from there.

It was another balanced night on offense for the Gazelles, who saw seven different players score. Cornemann added nine points despite getting in early foul trouble, Anderson added seven points and Buckman chipped in with six points.

Mitchell, losers of three straight after losing twice out in Rapid City last weekend, also got nine points and five assists from Macy Miller, as well as seven points from Sabers.

Even though Young led the Kernels with 16 points on 7-of-17 shooting, her coach said she’s still not completely healthy from the flu.

“She’s still not back at 100 percent,” Morgan said. “She made a pass there at the end that was like five feet behind her teammate. The Kerri Young we saw tonight isn’t what she can be. She’s a special player, so once we get some pieces back in place, we’ll be OK.”

Mitchell hosts Sioux Falls Lincoln Jan. 4 at the Corn Palace.

YANKTON 49, MITCHELL 41

YHS(4-1, 3-1)

Riley Paulsen 0-4 2-2 2; Heather Ray 1-4 0-0 2; Laura Buckman 3-6 0-0 6; Chloe Cornemann 3-6 3-4 9; Emily Fedders 5-17 4-4 17; Jenn Granflaten 0-0 0-0 0; Mikala Hora 3-5 0-0 6; Emily Anderson 3-10 0-0 7; Tory Gross 0-2 0-0 0; Rachael Johnson 0-1 0-4 0. TOTALS 18-55 9-14 49.

MHS (2-3, 2-1)

Charlee Nelson 0-3 0-0 0; Courtney Miller 0-2 0-0 0; Kerri Young 7-17 0-0 16; Kristin Sabers 3-11 1-3 7; Kelli Schlimgen 0-0 0-0 0; Macy Miller 2-5 5-8 9; Lexie Weier 2-2 1-2 5; Meghan Farnham 1-2 2-5 4. TOTALS 15-42 9-18 41.

MHS 8 25 33 41

YHS 17 31 40 49

Three-Pointers: YHS 4-11 (Fedders 3-7, Anderson 1-2, Cornemann 0-1, Hora 0-1), MHS 2-9 (Young 2-3, Sabers 0-1, C. Miller 0-2, Nelson 0-3). Total Rebounds: YHS 45 (Fedders 9), MHS 24 (Sabers 6). Assists: MHS 10 (M. Miller 5), YHS 9 (Fedders 4). Turnovers: YHS 17, MHS 17. Steals: YHS 12 (Hora 4), MHS 6 (Young 4).

Tags: girls basketball, sports, kernels, basketball