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Mathematics rarely lie.
Teams that only take six shots and make one field goal in a quarter are a great deal less likely to win the game. Just ask the Mineral Point girls basketball team as that's exactly what happened to them in Monday's season opener at Dodgeville.
The third quarter was key for the Dodgers as they were able to hold the Pointers scoreless until 52 seconds remaining in the period to help them win the non-conference contest 46-34.
Mineral Point was the team that started hot, using its size advantage to compile a 6-0 run early in the first quarter, five from Hannah Goninen in the paint. But Dodgeville responded effectively, making adjustments and doing a better job in transition to close the quarter with a 6-0 run of its own and take a 13-10 lead at the end of one.
The second quarter was back and forth, with each team missing several shots from the charity stripe. The Dodgers maintained a three point lead, 27-24, at the half.
Then came the aforementioned third. Macy McConnell started the Dodgeville run with a three, Laura Neil and Megan Zoet added a basket each, and two hoops from Rachel Pope completed the 11-0 Dodger run. Caitlyn Qualley finally ended the Pointer drought and two free throws from Hannah Lawinger got the Mineral Point deficit to 10, but another basket from Pope as the horn sounded made the score 40-28 in favor of the home team entering the fourth.
Pope scored again to start the fourth, but Mineral Point tried to crawl back, going on a 6-0 run, four from Lawinger and two points from Lauren Graber. The Pointers were in the bonus for much of the second half as the Dodgers found themselves in a bit of foul trouble, but it didn't make a difference. Mineral Point was held scoreless over the final 2:46 as Dodgeville held on for the win.
Dodgeville was led by Pope's 16 point performance with McConnell adding 10.
Lawinger was the only Pointer in double digits with 12.
"We talked before the game saying it's the first game of the year, you never know how it's going to start, but if things don't go the way we want, don't panic--and I have to say we didn't," said Dodger coach Josh Busch. "We responded well, and just stuck with what we do."
"I thought we played a good second half, especially in that third quarter. We stuck with our fundamentals, boxed out when we needed to. I think we have a bit more depth this year than last, so the foul trouble didn't hurt us as bad. This was a great team win," concluded Busch.
"I felt we played well the first half," said Pointer coach Mitch Wainwright. "But going 10 for 22 from the line hurt, and we weren't able to capitalize on their foul trouble as much as we would've liked."
"We only took six shots in the third quarter--how do you score if you don't shoot? We didn't do a good job of taking care of the ball, but Dodgeville is very athletic. They always hustled to the loose balls and caused a lot of tie ups. I can't fault our effort though--we played hard all night, and that's all I can ask," Wainwright said.
Mineral Point will travel to Boscobel Friday and Barneveld Tuesday.
Dodgeville visits Brodhead Saturday and hosts Monona Grove Monday.
SCORE BY QUARTERS
MP: 10-14-4-6--34
D: 13-14-13-6--46
BOX SCORE
MINERAL POINT 34 (fg-ft-tp): Qualley 1-0-3, L. Graber 1-4/6-6, Pilling 1-0-2, Mitchell 3-0-6, Lawinger 4-4/8-12, Ottoway 0-0/4-0, Goninen 1-3/4-5. Totals: 11-10/22-34. Fouls: 13. Three pointers: Qualley 1.
DODGEVILLE 46: Stanek 2-0/2-4, Pope 6-4/5-16, Neil 1-1/2-3, Bakker 1-1/2-3, McConnell 3-2/2-10, Lee 2-0-4, Zoet 3-0-6. Totals: 18-8/13-46. Fouls: 20. Fouled out: Bakker. Three pointers: McConnell 2.
JV: Dodgeville won.
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