Kernel girls top Brookings 61-28

BROOKINGS — Future Jackrabbits Kerri Young and Macy Miller combined for 39 points and top-ranked Mitchell scored the game’s first 15 points en route to a 61-28 Eastern South Dakota Conference girls’ basketball victory over the Bobcats on Tuesday night at Bob Jostad Gymnasium.

Young scored 21 points on 10-of-13 shooting, while Miller added 18 after going 6-of-11 from the field for the reigning Class AA state champs.

Mitchell’s perimeter pressure bothered the Bobcats and led to some easy buckets in transition in the early going.

Young opened the scoring with a layup and Miller added a free throw and a jumper to make it 5-0. Young then broke free for a pair of layups in transition – the second coming after a Miller steal – and Miller added a putback to stretch the lead to 11-0.

Courtney Moore’s steal led to another run-out, as Young finished the play with a bucket; and Taylor Volesky put back a Young miss to make it 15-0 just 4:49 into the game.

“We wanted to come out with good intensity and I thought we did that tonight,” said Mitchell head coach Wes Morgan. “It’s tough when those guards put that much pressure on them and don’t give them a look at the basket.

“But I thought Brookings came out and did a nice job of going to that zone and kind of creating some issues for us.”

Kaitlyn Hadley had an old-fashioned three-point play to get the Bobcats on the board with 2:59 left in the first; and the score stood at 15-3 entering the second quarter.

Mitchell pushed the lead to 24 points – 29-5 – when Moore capped a 12-0 run with a layup with 4:40 remaining in the second. Five different Kernels scored during the spurt.

Mitchell was up 35-10 at halftime and 49-16 entering the final stanza, as Brookings never got closer than 21 points in the second half. The Mitchell lead twice reached 35 points over the final three minutes.

“I don’t think there are any secrets; we knew Mitchell was going to be very tough,” said Brookings head coach Lynn Frederick. “They’re a great offensive team and they’ve really gotten better defensively over the last two years – I think that’s why they’ve been very successful, because I think their defense compliments their offense quite well.”

For Young, a senior forward, and Miller, a junior guard, it was just another solid outing. Young added eight rebounds and four steals; while Miller contributed six rebounds, five assists, four steals and two blocks.

“In transition they find each other so well on the break,” Morgan said of the 6-footers. “They’re unselfish – they probably each could have had a couple more baskets – but they find other kids on the break.

“It’s fun, because they run the floor so hard and they get rewarded at the other end. They just work so hard and they’re reaping the benefits of that.”

Hadley led the ‘Cats with 12 points.

Brookings (0-3, 0-3 ESD), which was playing its home opener, travels to Brandon Valley on Thursday. Mitchell (2-0, 2-0) heads to Rapid City for a pair of nonconference games, facing Central on Friday and Stevens on Saturday.

MITCHELL 61

BROOKINGS 28

Mitchell (2-0, 2-0 ESD)

Megan Farnham 1-2 2-4 4, Macy Miller 6-11 4-5 18, Courtney Moore 2-3 2-4 6, Kerri Young 10-13 0-0 21, Kristin Sabers 1-11 0-0 2, Berkley Rietveld 0-0 0-0 0, Torrie Michels 0-3 2-2 2, Emma Schmidt 0-0 0-0 0, Taylor Volesky 3-6 0-0 6, Shelly Iburg 0-1 2-2 2, Ashley Larson 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 23-50 12-17 61.

Brookings (0-3, 0-3 ESD)

Kaitlyn Hadley 5-12 1-1 12, Emily Johnson 1-9 0-1 2, Lauren Coughlin 1-4 0-0 2, Amelia Miller 0-5 0-0 0, Margaret Chell 2-2 1-3 5, Jenna Thomas 0-2 0-0 0, Sidney Berreth 1-2 0-0 2, Morgan Mahanke 1-6 0-0 3, Sara Tvedt 1-4 0-0 2, Kelsey Parker 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 12-46 2-15 28.

3-point goals – M 3-6 (Miller 2-3, Young 1-1, Farnham 0-1, Sabers 0-1), B 2-15 (Hadley 1-3, Mahanke 1-3, Thomas 0-1, Berreth 0-1, Coughlin 0-2, Johnson 0-5). Rebounds – M 26 (Young 8), B 29 (Miller, Chell, Mahanke 4). Assists – M 9 (Miller 5), B 2 (Coughlin, Parker 1). Steals – M 15 (Miller, Young 4), B 3 (Hadley, Coughlin, Miller 1). Blocks – M 3 (Miller 2), B 2 (Miller, Tvedt 1). Turnovers – M 9, B 21. Total fouls – M 10, B 12. Fouled out – none.

Junior varsity – Mitchell 46, Brookings 38.

Sophomore – Brookings 27, Mitchell 25.

Freshmen – Brookings 32, Mitchell 24.