Titans bow to Mohall-L-S
T-G-U falls to M-L-S
Fourth seed Towner-Granville-Upham put a scare in top seeded Mohall-Lansford-Sherwood for the better part of a quarter in the teams’ region tournament game on Feb. 23.
The Titans, playing in their first region game, showed no fear of the mighty Mavericks, scoring the game’s first four points, extending their advantage to 10-2, and forcing M-L-S to take a time out.
The time out served its purpose, settling down the stunned Mavericks and putting a stop to T-G-U’s momentum.
M-L-S outscored the Titans 10-2 in the final three and a half minutes of the quarter and rolled from there, winning 58-30.
“We sort of shocked them with our start,” T-G-U coach Angela Hager said. “They couldn’t hit shots and were a little confused, and we looked relaxed. However, they regrouped, like good teams do, and were able to get back into the game.“
The outcome perhaps was not surprising, but T-G-U did accomplish many things it wanted. The squad got an early lead and survived the first quarter– in fact, was tied.
It was the Mavericks’ ability to control the offensive boards which created short range baskets, and that contributed to a shooting percent of 47 percent for the game, making 27 of 58 shot attempts.
“It’s tough to beat a team that’s shooting that well,” Hager said.
M-L-S outscored the Titans 19-6 in the second quarter to take a 13-point lead into the second half.
Early in the third quarter, M-L-S picked up where it left off, putting pressure on T-G-U’s ball handlers and getting points off turnovers.
T-G-U did make a small run late in the third quarter, outscoring the Mavericks 8-2 in the last two minutes to get to within 17 points.
“That provided us a little glimmer of hope at the time, although that little run came during a wild and out-of-hand stretch of play for both teams,” Hager said.
Unfortunately, the squad couldn’t carry over that play into the final quarter, managing just one more basket.
Hager pulled her starters later in the quarter, allowing some younger players the chance to play. “I wanted to get the young ones in and get a little familiar with that floor, hopefully getting another chance to come back in the future.”
Junior Taylor Stone scored nine points to lead T-G-U. Senior Karly Brummond finished with eight and Annie Klebe had seven; Maggie Woodall, four; and Jordyn Brandt two.
The loss ended the Titans’ season at 9-13, but simply getting to the regional tournament was a key step forward for the program. T-G-U had been in three region-qualifying games prior to this season, only to lose them all.
This season the program finally cleared that hurdle, and the extra week of practice preparing for a regional gam, and getting the experience of playing in one should be a benefit for the program’s returning players.