New Richmond girls basketball can't complete comeback at River Falls

• Hannah Simpson

New Richmond sophomore Hannah Simpson drives to the basket for two of her eight points in Friday’s game at River Falls.

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New Richmond’s girls basketball team made a nice second half comeback, but the Tigers weren’t able to finish off Friday’s game at River Falls, losing to the Wildcat 37-32.

The Tigers trailed 21-14 at halftime, before putting together a strong third quarter. By the end of the third quarter the Tigers had cut River Falls’ lead to one point at 27-26. The Tigers were able to take a 32-30 lead in the fourth quarter, but River Falls scored the final seven points of the game, all on free throws.

River Falls put a much taller lineup on the court than the Tigers, with all five starters standing 5-9 or taller. Tiger coach Jeff Kanewischer said he didn’t think the height differential should have resulted in the drastic free throw margin in the game. River Falls made 14-21 shots from the line while the Tigers were just 1-3 on free throws.

“The ironic thing is we were playing a zone (defense) and typically in a zone you don’t foul as much,” Kanewischer said.

The Tigers had more field goals than River Falls in the game (14 to 10). All of the Wildcats’ nine points in the fourth quarter came on free throws.

Junior Mattie Kidder led the Tiger offense, scoring 12 points before fouling out.

“She’s been playing with more confidence,” Kanewischer said. “Also, it’s us setting better screens and getting the ball to the post more.”

Sophomore Hannah Simpson finished with eight points, including four of the Tigers’ six points in the fourth quarter.

The Tigers began this week one game out of the lead in the Middle Border Conference standings. On Friday the Tigers will host Prescott, the team they are tied with for second place in the MBC standings. The Tigers will play another MBC game next Tuesday, when they travel to Osceola.

Tags: sports, tigers, basketball, prep