New Richmond girls basketball learning how to maintain a lead

• Mattie Kidder

New Richmond’s Mattie Kidder (left) deflects a pass as part of the Tigers’ successful full-court pressure in a recent game against Prescott.

Talk about it

As the New Richmond girls basketball team continues to maintain its place at the top of the Middle Border Conference standings, learning to hold onto a lead is becoming more important for the Tigers.

That was shown last Tuesday when the Tigers went to Osceola and put together a gem of a first half, building a 30-15 lead by halftime. The Tigers’ second half wasn’t as sterling, but they did stay in control to defeat the Chieftains 46-34.

The Tigers and Baldwin-Woodville begin this week tied for the MBC lead with 6-1 records. The Tigers play their two main contenders for the top spot in the conference in the upcoming days. New Richmond hosts Durand this Friday. The Tigers get a visit from Baldwin-Woodville’s girls next Tuesday.

The game at Osceola last Tuesday showed how the Tigers are progressing, but that there’s still also room to grow. The 30 points in the first half was the product of unselfish, savvy play. The team’s coaches said the girls showed progress by recognizing what defenses Osceola was playing and going on the attack, instead of staying with the scripted plan for the game.

Six different Tigers scored in the first half, led by eight points from Sydney Kannel, seven from Hannah Simpson and six from Maddie Kelly.

In the second half Osceola switched to a 1-3-1 offense and the Tigers were content to keep the ball on the perimeter.

“We were probably a little too patient,” said Tiger coach Jeff Kanewischer. “We didn’t attack as much as we could have.”

The lead grew as large as 20 points in the third quarter, but Osceola was able to chip it down to 11 points in the fourth quarter.

Kanewischer said every game is still a growing experience. While the team has done well in conference games, many of the players don’t have vast varsity experience.

“We haven’t played our best basketball yet,” Kanewischer ventured. “We’re still learning.”

Kannel finished with 16 points to lead the Tigers and Simpson ended with 10 points. Simpson’s six rebounds lead the team, with Maddie Krumm and Mattie Kidder each grabbing five rebounds. Kannel led the team with five rebounds and four assists.

Tags: sports, tigers, basketball, prep