Mitchell girls use strong second half in win over Brandon Valley

While looking to bounce back from its first two losses of the year, Mitchell’s offense wasn’t exactly smooth out of the gate.

The Kernels (6-2) shot 34 percent from the field against Brandon Valley in the first 16 minutes of their Eastern South Dakota Conference girls’ basketball game Tuesday at the Corn Palace in Mitchell.

“We missed a lot of easy buckets right away,” Morgan said. “When they don’t go in the hole, you just keep going. … We’ve got to fight through those things.”

The Kernels did exactly that, shooting 63 percent in the second half and leading to an 84-33 win after a tough weekend on the road.

No. 3-ranked Mitchell, which lost to Sioux Falls Washington and Aberdeen in its last two games, got a game-high 26 points from junior guard Macy Miller. Kerri Young had 16 points and Megan Farnham and Kristin Sabers each added nine.

Brandon Valley kept the game close in the first quarter. But Miller had 10 points in the first six minutes to help the Kernels lead from start to finish. Mitchell, in its regular fashion, eventually earned buckets off steals and held the Lynx to nine second-quarter points.

Despite Mitchell’s 20-point lead at halftime, Morgan said his team struggled at times with Brandon Valley’s zone defense. The Kernels hit 14 of their 41 first-half shots but a strong defensive effort had them leading 40-20 at the break.

“I think we were a little shaky, but we settled in,” Morgan said. “We have to get more con-sistent.”

The Kernels scored the first 11 points of the third quarter, found and finished easy looks inside throughout the third and fourth quarters and Brandon Valley was held to 13 second-half points.

“I thought their half-court offense looked good in the second half,” Brandon Valley coach Mark Stadem said. “Their transition game really killed us in the first half, and they executed pretty well in the second half.”

Young had a team-best seven rebounds for the Kernels, who won the battle of the boards 41-27. Mitchell also had only seven turnovers to Brandon Valley’s 21. The Lynx were led by Allison Koehn’s 13 points. No other Brandon Valley player had more than five points.

The Kernels are in back action on Tuesday, when they travel to Pierre for another ESD Conference matchup. Brandon Valley, which lost to the Kernels 65-30 in both teams’ season-opening game, fell to 3-6 overall and 3-4 in conference play.

MITCHELL 84, BRANDON VALLEY 33

MHS (6-2, 4-1 ESD)

Megan Farnham 3-10 3-4 9, Macy Miller 10-15 6-7 26, Courtney Moore 2-4 1-2 5, Kerri Young 7-16 2-2 16, Kristin Sabers 4-10 0-0 9, Berkley Reitveld 0-1 0-0 0, Torrie Michels 3-6 0-0 8, Emma Schmidt 0-1 0-0 0, Taylor Volesky 2-5 3-4 7, Shelly Iburg 1-2 0-0 2, Ashley Larson 1-1 0-0 2. Totals: 33-71 15-19 84.

BV (3-6, 3-4 ESD)

Brynn Rist 1-2 3-3 5, Brooke Merry 1-3 0-0 3, Val Peltier 1-2 0-0 2, Jordym Griffith 1-4 0-0 2, Allison Koehn 4-13 4-4 13, Kara Schroeder 0-3 2-2 2, Taylor Thorson 0-2 0-0 0, Brooklyn Smith 0-1 0-0 0, Kasara Pollema 0-3 0-0 0, Alana Hall 0-0 0-0 0, Becca Long 0-4 1-2 1, Carly Kuster 2-6 1-2 5.

MHS 23 40 64 84

BVHS 11 20 25 33

3-Point goals: MHS 3-9 (Michels 2, Sabers 1), BV 2-13 (Merry, Koehn). Rebounds: MHS 41 (Young 7), BV 27 (Koehn 5). Assists: MHS 11 (Farnham 2, Young 2, Reitveld 2, Volesky 2). Turnovers: MHS 7, BV 21. Total fouls: MHS 14, BV 15. Fouled out: None. Technical fouls: None.

BRANDON — Mitchell High School picked up its third win of the season Tuesday, defeating No. 4-ranked Brandon Valley in a boys’ basket-ball game.

JV: Mitchell 59-48; Taylor Volesky had 17 points, Torrie Michels had 16 points and Shelly Iburg had 12 points.

Sophomores: Brandon Valley 35-28; Hallie Misiaszek had 12 points.

JV: Brandon Valley 29-16; Erin Farnham had six points.

Tags: sports, kernels, basketball, updates