By Joel Herrig
Murray County News Sports
The MCC Rebel Girl’s were at home on Tuesday night taking on the Red Rock Central Falcons. The Falcons came to Slayton with a 5-2 record compared to the Rebels at 3-4. MCC was hoping to get to 500 with a win while taking their next step as a team beating one of the better teams in the Red Rock Conference over the last two or three years. This was a tough test for the Rebels; a test that maybe left some hope for the Rebels, but one that also created plenty of frustration.
The Falcons of Red Rock Central start three players who are 5’11” or taller giving them a decided height advantage over MCC who has just one in the starting lineup and one that comes off the bench. That size can be a big help on defense, rebounding, and of course scoring in the low post. On Tuesday that size really only paid off in one area and that was probably scoring. That was the frustrating aspect of the Rebels game on Tuesday night. MCC was by far the quicker team on the floor and they used their quickness to out rebound the bigger Falcons, they used it to create 25 turnovers giving themselves opportunity after opportunity to score, what the Rebels didn’t do was protect the ball and capitalize on their advantage on offense. The Falcons really dominated the first half of the game taking a 10-0 lead over the first few minutes led by Haley Simonson and Kaitlyn Rindfleisch the duo combined for 10 first half points but really got the Falcons out to a quick start. That was followed by Vanessa Kedl and Hannah Decock who found opening inside and out. The Rebels were led in the first half by Shelby Christensen who scored 4 points on 4 made free throws. Christensen was the one player in the first half who used her speed advantage to her benefit on offense. She attacked the bigger bit slower Falcon defenders and she created shots and fouls. The Rebels had 15 first half turnovers and just 15 points. The Falcons on the other hand led 29 to 15 at the break. Not because they dominated play as much as the score indicated but they converted on opportunities the Rebels didn’t.
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