The Dragons girls basketball team hosted their rival Rush City Friday night. The last several years have seen this game go back and forth with many lead changes and typically Rush City is able to squeeze out a win at the end. In fact, the Rush City Tigers had won the last eight meetings between these two teams and you have to go back to January 22nd, 2016 for the last time Pine City won. This year is different.
Pine City controlled the game from the beginning. The Dragons scored 51 points in the first half. Their defense suffocated the Tigers and only gave up 6 points in the 1st half. Lily Wilson and Ellie Hasz lead the team in scoring in the 1st with 11 points each. In the second half, it was much of the same. The Dragons starters were pulled half way through the second half. Pine City’s 2nd stringers show a lot of talent, and scored the last 17 points for the Dragons. Freshman Kloey Lind had 4 points off the bench which lead all bench players. The Dragons were strong on defense and kept the ball moving. Pine City cruised to a victory over Rush City 70-18. In the postgame interview, Coach Hasz said that great defense has been the key to their success this season. You can listen to the full postgame interview here: https://www.wcmpradio.com/interviews
From head coach Ted Hasz:
As has been the case in all three games this season, Pine City started off on a big run and did not look back. "The girls are always excited to play against Rush City as we have a great friendly rivalry with them." The Dragons raced out to a 30-4 lead and led 51-6 at the half. "It was again a great defensive effort that led us to the big lead. "The kids are really buying into our defensive philosophy and they are having a lot of fun seeing it work." The Dragons forced 42 Tiger turnovers which led to 44 points. The Dragons were led by Lily Wilson and Sophie Lahti in the scoring column with 14 points a piece. Lily also had 6 assists and 4 steals. Sophie had 6 rebounds and 5 steals. Ellie Hasz was also in double figures with 13 points and 5 rebounds. Alaina Steele had 6 points, 7 assists and 8 steals. Meredith Kolling also had 6 points to go along with 4 rebounds and 3 steals. Ashley Faur had 5 points. Chloe Lind had 4 points. Makenna Nelson and Maddie Berglund have both been doing a great job of contributing off of the bench and had 3 points apiece. Carissa Nascene had 2 points.
The Dragons are now 3-0 on the season and 2-0 in the Great River Conference. The Dragons will play two more conference games this week. They will travel to Braham on Tuesday and they will host East Central on Friday.
