Pine City traveled to Albany on Thursday night.
The Dragons faced the Huskies for the first time this season. With Albany having a down year, this was a prime opportunity for Pine City to go into enemy territory and pull off a big win.
Both teams struggled early on to settle into the game. You could tell anxiety was running high for both sides. This lead to early turnovers, plays not being executed and fundamentals being forgotten. Then came the first made basket, Mallory Clepper hit a three and was fouled for a possible rare four point play. She would convert the free throw and all of a sudden Pine City was leading and stole momentum. Their confidence shot through the roof after this big play. The Huskies seemed to draw alittle inspiration for this play and would soon answer. The 1st half after this was back and forth. Pine City surrendered the lead twice but only for a mere 30 seconds total. The Dragons biggest lead was 9 and they looked to be off and running. Just as the half was winding down, Albany would go on a 6-0 run to close the gap, but Pine City still lead at the half 26-23.
The 2nd half began much like the first for Pine City, they struggled to get back into a rhythm and turnovers were a result. Luckily for them, Albany struggled to capitalize off of all of those and, despite taking the lead, allowed the Dragons to keep it close. Pine City would use a couple timeouts to try and settle the team down. They looked lost on the court, defensively they were keeping themselves in it, but the offense couldn't buy a basket. It seemed like almost every possession they had lead to a turnover and soon the Huskies were out to a double digit lead. With momentum fully on the Albany side, PC called another timeout. This seemed to help, as they went on a small run to cut the deficit to 9 and were right back in it. As quickly as they got in position for a comeback, Albany shut any hope of that down, pushing back out to a double digit lead. The Dragons fought to the very end but unfortunately, they came up short 58-41.
The season ends perhaps sooner than it should have, they very much looked like the better team in the 1st half. But it was a tale of two halves in this game. They had a great season, with how unique it was, they got back to double digit wins once again and grew together as a team and a family. They'll have alot to look forward to for next year, but certainly will miss the three seniors from this year: Rachel Brown, Brecken Reiser and Piper Mettling. We wish the three seniors nothing but the best in their future!
Congrats to the Dragons on a great season!
Scoring
Pine City:
Brooke Boland 13
Mallory Clepper 12
Piper Mettling 10
Paige Grey and Rhetta Ganote 3
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