Pine City hosted Pierz on Tuesday night.
This was neither a conference or section game, but there was still plenty on the line. For Pine City it was a chance to get over .500 for the first time this season. This was also their 2nd game in just as many days.
Once the game began Pierz was able to take control early on. It seemed that there was some fatigue for the Dragons after having played on the road the previous night. Pine City kept it close for awhile, but eventually Pierz was able to make it a double digit lead. While the Pioneers seemed to get every shot to fall, the Dragons struggled to get on the board. Frustration was certainly felt on their bench and it seemed to also dent their confidence. They would go into the halftime break down 30-14.
As the 2nd half began, there was a different feel on the Dragons side of the court. A new mindset, a new found confidence and they let go of the frustration felt in the 1st. It didn't take long for that confidence to show, the Dragons scored on their first few possessions. Although Pierz was able to match some of the scoring, the defense was playing leaps and bounds better than early on. The Dragons quickly forced the Pioneers offense into errant passes and rushed shots. One of the bigger keys to the game was Pine City's ability to grab rebounds on both sides of the ball. With that momentum had swung in their favor and the comeback was on. The Dragons were able to cut their deficit down 9 late in the game, but the Pioneers had found some late push and it looked like they had stolen the momentum back. Pierz pushed their lead back to 14 points and with the clock rolling, time was on their side. But Pine City was not going to give in, in fact they came back stronger and once again their deficit was cut to under 10. With under a minute left the Dragons were down by only a single point. And with 30 seconds left, Brooke Boland hit a corner three to give her team a 2 point lead. Pierz knew they had to move quickly and did so, but drew a foul on Pine City and got to the free throw line. Pierz was only able to hit one of their two shots from the line and all the Dragons had to do was run out the clock. After a Pierz foul, Pine City got into their zone but gave up the ball with 6 seconds left up by only one. The Pioneers had the chance at the last shot, but missed and the Dragons came away with the win 57-56!
Pine City moves to 10-9 on the season with their 2nd win in a row. They will now have a break before playing on Friday up at MLWR.
Scoring
Pine City:
Mallory Clepper 22
Piper Mettling 20
Brooke Boland and Rhetta Ganote 5
Paige Gray 3
Kate Unverzagt 2
