Defense leads Mitchell Christian girls past Wessington Springs

Mitchell Christian girls’ basketball coach Jackie Van Laecken has preached the importance of playing strong defense to her team all season.

Saturday, Van Laecken’s Eagles played good defense en route to defeating the Wessington Springs Spartans 49-21 in a girls’ high school basketball game at Mitchell Christian School.

“We really looked to play tough defense and the girls rotated well on that,” Van Laecken said. “They played aggressive and did a great job of covering up what they needed to.”

Mitchell Christian took control of the game from the start with its full court-press defense that forced the Spartans to commit 24 turnovers.

The Eagles defense was led by Alexa Van Laecken and Khiree Held, who each finished with five steals. MCS only allowed the Spartans to make six field goals the entire game.

“I think this is what’s going to happen when you come unprepared and uninspired,” Wessington Springs coach Mitch McLagan said. “I felt like Mitchell Christian was much more prepared and more inspired than we were.

“We knew what we were going to see. They like to pack it in with their 2-3 zone and we talked about how we wanted to patient and get a good shot. But the problem we had was we didn’t get that good shot because we turned it over before we got to half court.”

The Spartans, who are now 4-10 on the season, made eight of its 22 free throws and did not have a player score in double figures.

Cassidy Musick scored a team-high eight points and Sheyanne Brodkorb finished with six points and seven rebounds as Wessington Springs dropped its fifth straight game.

This is the third time Mitchell Christian has held a team under 30 points this season. The Eagles, who finished with 19 steals, were able to turn many of the Spartan turnovers into fast-break points.

The benefactor of most of those buckets was Alexa Van Laecken, who finished with 15 points, eight rebounds and eight assists. Freshman center Emily Reynen controlled the paint for the Eagles en route to scoring a game-high 19 points.

“I was very happy with the girls’ play. They really did spread the ball well,” Jackie Van Laecken said. “All the girls scoring is what we like to see because it’s tougher to defend when you have more than a couple of girls scoring, so we enjoy that.”

Mitchell Christian is back in action 6:30 p.m. today against Mount Vernon/Plankinton in Mitchell.

MITCHELL CHRISTIAN 49,

WESSINGTON SPRINGS 21

MCS (9-4)

Alexa Van Laecken 2 2-3 15, Becca Glanzer 3 2-2 8, Khiree Held 2 0-0 4, Emily Reynen 7 5-6 19, Brittany Zoss 1 1-2 3, Lindsay Thompson 0 0-0 0, Abbie Reynen 0 0-0 0, Ashley Glanzer 0 0-0 0, Kelsey Thompson 0 0-0 0, Destiny Reimnitz 0 0-0 0, Taylor Krall 0 0-0 0. Totals: 14 10-13 49.

WS (4-10)

Sheyanne Brodkorb 2 2-2 6, Morgan Tebay 0 2-3 2, Cassidy Musick 1 3-8 8, Shyanne Kopfmann 0 0-2 0, Devin Tebay 0 0-4 0, Maddie Gran 1 0-1 2, Marina Parks 0 0-0 0, Jaycee Hohn 0 0-0 0, Lexi Olinger 1 1-2 3, Hailey Bruckner 0 0-0 0, Amy Woodruff 0 0-0 0. Totals: 5 8-22 21.

MCS 12 25 40 49

WS 4 8 15 21

3-point goals: MCS 3 (Van Laecken 3), WS 1 (Musick). Rebounds: MCS 27 (Van Laecken 8), WS 33 (Kopfmann 8). Assists: MCS 14 (Van Laecken 8), WS 5 (Tebay 3). Steals: MCS 19 (Van Laecken 5, Held 5), WS 6 (Musick 2, Tebay 2). Turnovers: MCS 8, WS 24. Total fouls: MCS 22, WS 15. Technical fouls: none.

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