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Sydney Staver and Destinee Kruser both scored nine of their team-high 15 points in the second half to help the Mineral Point girls cagers to a 51-44 win over River Valley November 22nd in non-conference action.
The Pointers held a slim 18-17 lead at the half after leading 12-2 at the start. They outscored the Lady Blackhawks 33-27 in the second half.
River Valley's Taylor Briehl hit nine of her game-high 16 points in the first half.
"We started the game with a 12 - 2 run and then hit a wall," said Pointer coach Mitch Wainwright. "Valley changed up their defense and we didn't respond well. They finished on a 15 - 6 run of their own."
He added, "We started the second half on a little run and got momentum back then played even up after that. They (River Valley) did a nice job of battling and we could never really pull away from them."
"Destinee Kruser and Haley Chubb both hit nice shots and Syd hit a big 3 down the stretch. I thought Mara Aschliman did an excellent job playing and had a big 3 point play late in the game making a layup and getting the free throws," the coach added.
"This was another game I thought we did some good things as a team, but I saw some things we still need to get better at," Wainwright concluded.
River Valley coach Brent Johnson said, "For the first seven minutes it looked like we had never played a game before. With the boys going so deep into the football playoffs, the girls deserved to be a part of that. Also we only have two kids with real varsity experience."
He pointed out that he felt Staver and Kruser both hurt them in the second half.
"They bested us and Staver hit a huge three and tent hurt us with two free throws. But we made her earn her points."
"It was a tough opening game for us."
SCORE BY HALVES
MINERAL POINT  18 33-51
RIVER VALLEY     17 27-44
BOX SCORE
MINERAL POINT 51 (fg, ft, tp) Reichling 1-2/6-4, Bossert 1-0-2, Staver 5-4/8-15, Kruser 6-2/2-15, Chubb 2-0/1-4, Aschliman 2-3/3-7, James 1-0-2, Johnson 1-0-2. Totals 19-11/20-51. F-19. 3-pointers: Staver 1, Kruser 1.
RIVER VALLEY 44: Hood 3-0-6, Esser 0-4/6-4, T. Briehl 6-4/7-16, Eberle 1-0-3, E. Briehl 2-3/6-7, Alloway 1-0-2, Feiner 0-0-0, Jewell2-2/2-6. Totals 14-13/21-44. F-20. FO-T. Briehl. 3-pointers: Eberle 11.