Mineral Point Girls Sweep Darlington in SWAL 57-48

By John Dalton

The Mineral Point girls’ basketball team visited Darlington Tuesday night and defeated the Redbirds to take the conference sweep 57-48.  A win against Fennimore on Thursday night will assure the Pointers at least a share of the SWAL conference title.  

Maddy Kabat would hit two baskets and a free throw to start the game and the Pointers had a quick 5-0 lead.  But the Redbirds would go on a 12-0 run to take a 12-5 lead forcing Mineral Point Head Coach Nick Jelle to call a timeout to regroup his team.

Following the timeout, Laci Lindsey hit a 3-point basket to break the Redbird run and the Pointers returned the favor and went on a 12-2 run of their own to take a 17-14 lead, thanks in part to Laci Lindsey’s three baskets, and jump shots by Ella Kroll and Eliza Ingwell.  

But Darlington’s Maddie Gratz kept the Redbirds close hitting two buckets putting Darlington down 19-18.  Kabat answered with an old-fashioned 3-point play on a hoop and one, she then stole the ball and went the distance for a basket, and then after Kroll hhit a 3-point shot, Kabat would get a rebound and another bucket and one to put the Pointers up 32-25.  

Lindsey put the Pointers up 36-25 on back-to-back baskets, but as time expired in the first half, Gratz hit a 3-point shot cutting the lead to eight.  Gratz led the Redbirds with 17 points on the night.  

It wasn’t always pretty in the second half as both teams pressured each other, creating turnovers and forced shots, but each time Darlington tried to make a run, Mineral Point had an answer. Lindsey led the Pointers with 19 points on the night, and Kabat added 16.  

“Coming down here it’s always tough.  I thought we played well at streaks and at times we didn’t play well, but we battled until the end and were able to hang on, and that is what you have to do this time of year find a way when shots weren’t always falling,” said Jelle.  

“The second half it just kind of slowed down, it was an ugly game tonight but I’m glad we got the W tonight.  We’re still fighting for that co-conference championship going against Fennimore on Thursday and going into the tournament as co-conference champs would have a nice ring to it and would give us a lot of confidence,” he said.  

Mineral Point hosts Fennimore on Thursday night.  Tipoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.  For video highlights of this game check out The Democrat or The Dodgeville Chronicle Facebook page.

BOX SCORE

Mineral Point 36 – 21 – 57

Darlington 28 – 20 – 48

Mineral Point (fg-ft-tp); Laci Lindsey 7-3-19, Maddy Kabat 6-4-16, Eliza Ingwell 3-3-9, Ella Kroll 3-1-8, Jadyn Schultz 1-2-4, Sophie Miller 0-1-1. 

3-pointers; Lindsey 2, Kroll 1.

Darlington (fg-ft-tp); Maddie Gratz 7-1-17, Sadie Goebel 2-6-12, Lexie Meyers 2-2-7, Catie Hartwig 2-1-6, Olivea Winslow 1-0-3, Lylah Norgard 1-0-3.

3-pointers; Gratz 2, Goebel 2, Meyers 1, Winslow 1, Hartwig 1.