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For three and a half quarters Friday, the Mineral Point girls basketball team had visiting Cuba City on the ropes and within striking distance.
A 12-4 run by the Cubans over the final 5:29 of the game was the difference maker in a 41-32 SWAL loss for the Pointers.
"You hate to talk about moral victories," said Pointer coach Mitch Wainwright. "But for most of the game tonight, we did a lot of good things, and this is the best we have played Cuba City for a very long time."
The game was virtually a dead heat up until those final moments in the fourth. The Pointers opened with a 4-0 run with baskets by Emily Mitchell and Hannah Goninen, and Goninen's hoop with 43 seconds left in the first made the score 7-6 in favor of Cuba at the end of one. The Pointers did a good job forcing turnovers early, but were unable to capitalize those Cuba City miscues into points on the other end.
Lauren Graber had the hot Pointer hand, starting the second stanza with four straight points, but back came the Cubans behind Hannah Loeffelholz with five straight of her own. Starting freshman guard Chloe Pustina got her first field goal of the game on a three at the 2:53 mark, but two free throws by Goninen got the Pointers within 15-14 at the break.
Cuba City performed well out of halftime with a 10-6 run, but the Pointers stayed composed and answered with three free throws from Mitchell and a Hannah Lawinger hoop to crawl within 25-24 entering the fourth.
Graber's basket with 5:41 to go got the Pointers as close as 29-28, but that would be it as the gas was running low in tank for the home team. The Cubans missed their share of free throws, but Mineral Point failed to take advantage, going 0 for 4 themselves in the last period.
The top Cuban was Loeffelholz with 15.
Goninen's 18 points led all scorers.
"We forced turnovers early, but then we'd turn it back over before we could get a shot off," said Wainwright. "Going 5 of 14 at the free throw line really hurt us as well, and we had way too many missed bunny shots again. They weren't shooting well either, which helped us keep it close."
"We got tired in the fourth quarter, and I was a little leery to go into my bench too far. They were a bit deeper than us, but we have to believe. We were right there with them all the way through the third quarter," concluded the coach.
Cuba City improved to 9-1 in the SWAL, 16-2 overall while Point fell to 4-6, 8-10 and is now tied with Boscobel for 5th.
The Pointers travel to league leading Fennimore Thursday and host Riverdale Tuesday.
SCORE BY QUARTERS
CC: 7 8 10 16--41
MP: 6 8 10 8--32
CUBA CITY (fg-ft-tp) 41: Marti 0-1/2-1, Pustina 2-3/5-9, Steines 2-1/2-6, Loeffelholz 5-4/9-15, Lierman 2-0-4, Wedige 3-0/1-6. Totals: 14-9/19-41. Fouls: 14. Three pointers: Pustina 2, Loeffelholz 1, Steines 1.
MINERAL POINT 32: L. Graber 3-0/2-6, Mitchell 1-2/4-4, Wainwright 0-0/1-0, Lawinger 2-0-4, Goninen 7-3/7-18. Totals: 13-5/14-32. Fouls: 17. Three pointers: Goninen 1.