Rugby needs to shake shooting funk — Panther girls doing a lot of things well on the court, but still have losing mark
Rugby has outrebounded its opponents in its first four games, outscored them, outhustled them in the form of more steals and has taken better care of the basketball, averaging just 14 turnovers a game compared to 22 for its opponents.
Unfortunately, all that work has yielded just one win in its first four contests.
So what gives?
“Shooting,” says Rugby coach Jennifer Brossart. “Our shooting percentage is the only area we have struggled.“
The Panthers have had a dismal 27 percent shooting percentage, compared to 40 percent by their opponents in those early games, and that has been the difference in three close games, unfortunately, all losses.
“I don’t want to tell my girls not to shoot, but we just need to be a little more patient and selective on offense and look for more shots closer to the basket.“
Despite that 1-3 start, Brossart has been pleased with her team’s play, again noting her squad is doing a lot of things well. “Once we get that percentage up, we’re going to be fine,” she said.
The Panthers will finish their pre-holiday schedule this Thursday, Dec. 18, at home against Des Lacs-Burlington. The Lakers have a solid team and recently won the Sawyer Invitational.
A busy schedule for R-W
Arguably, no area team is going to be happier the holiday break is here than Rolette-Wolford.
The Comets will have played one-half of their schedule after their Dec. 20 non-district game against Glenburn.
“It’s not a real Comet-friendly schedule,” said R-W coach Jason Heinz. “Ten games in your first two and half weeks is a lot of basketball,” especially for a team relying on a lot of underclassmen.
Heinz said in previous years his experienced squads could handle that type of schedule with limited practice time. This season he would have preferred more practice time.
However, the Comets have held their own, winning three of their first five games and taking third at the recent Sawyer Invite. The Comets will get tested this week facing Rolla-Rock Lake and Minnewaukan-Leeds.
“Hopefully, we can get another win or two here in the last few games before the break,” he said.
Santos, Lions off to good start
Heading into the season, Minnewaukan-Leeds coach Travis Risovi was high on talented but young point guard Dorothia Santos.
So far, the freshman has shown signs of her potential, averaging near double figures in points through five games. And recently she was named to the Lake Region Invitational all-tournament team.
“She’s getting more and more comfortable on the court,” Risovi said. “She still makes those freshman mistakes, but that’s going to happen. She’s also getting her scoring opportunities, making the most of them.”
The Lions are off to a somewhat surprising start at 4-1. Risovi said it’s been the play of the defense which he has been most impressed with. In all four wins, M-L has given up just over 31 points per game, on average.
Titans’ offense has been up and down
Towner-Granville-Upham scored 55 points in a season-opening win over Rolette-Wolford.
But the squad dropped three of its next four games and could not break 50 points. And in two of those losses T-G-U was held to under 30 points.
Struggles on offense last season plagued the Titans at times, and coach Angela Hager knew heading into this season her squad was going to have its ups and downs offensively to begin with. That’s been the case, but a promising stat is the team is getting regular scoring from a handful of players. The key is getting consistent contributions to help the squad get out of its offensive funk.