This is a picture to remember for the 2023-24 season. Kara Menke, with ball, is guarded by only one defender. Most of the time, Kara is guarded by two or three defenders. I'm sure more defenders are close by, but were just camera shy.
Defense . . . at one time, coaches taught defense by telling players to keep an eye on the opponent's navel. "They weren't going anywhere without it." In this picture Valentina Koehler seems to be following that concept.
Highs . . . and lows . . . are common in life. They happen on the basketball court as well as in personal lives.
The L-N Lady Raiders experienced both last week.
They lost to a very good Shelton, scoring only 12 points in the game. That's a low . . . the lowest number of points in both last year and in this year so far.
Then . . . they hit a "high" when they traveled to Hampton, scoring the most points in either last year, or this year so far. Game summaries:
GIRLS VS SHELTON: 12-59: The first three minutes of this game were good. Kara Menke scored four points and L-N led Shelton 4-3. After that, it got tough. In a minute and one half Shelton hit 3 of 4 field goals to take the lead and secure it for the game. Shelton pressure defense forced 15 turnover by L-N in the first half.
L-N 8 1 3 0 - 12
Shelton 17 20 16 6 - 59
A highlight of the game was in the Raider rebounding where L-N held an 18-15 edge.
Individual Stats: FG, FT, Rb, Pts.
Addi McCloskey 0-3, 0-0 2, 0
Brook Combs-Glebe 0-0, 0-0, 1, 0
Jessica Sole 0-0, 0-0, 4, 0
Vali Koehler 0-0, 0-2, 1, 0
Hanna Skinner 0-5, 2-6, 3, 2
Kara Menke 3-8, 2-4, 3, 8
Josie Hajny 1-3, 0-0, 3, 2
Kynnedy Beale 0-1, 0-0, 0, 0
L-N total: 4-20, 4-12, 18, 12
Shelton total: 24-47, 4-9, 15, 59
GIRLS VS HAMPTON: 53-38: Scoring 53 points is a season high (in fact, a two year high) for the Lady Raiders. The 15 point win was not a 'run-away,' but as coach Kennedy noted: "it was nice to see the girls get some open shots and make them."
L-N 12 16 14 11 - 53
Hampton 11 9 6 12 - 38
Coach Kennedy continued with the comment: "we played really well, doing a great job of pressuring with our defense which led to some easy shots."
Hanna Skinner and Kara Menke both had a great night in the scoring column, putting in 19 and 25 points respectively. However, the game was far from a two person exhibit as steals, assists, deflections and rebound numbers were spread throughout the team. One area of importance was in assists where L-N had a 17 to 10 edge with five by Jessica Sole and three each by Addi McCloskey and Hanna Skinner.
Fans hope the Raiders victory earned them the confidence to replicate the game in the future.
Individual Stats: FG, FT, Rb, Pts.
Addi McCloskey 2-5, 0-0, 3, 4
Brook Combs-Glebe 0-1, 0-0, 1, 0
Jessica Sole 1-7, 0-0, 4, 2
Vali Koehler 0-1, 1-2, 3, 1
Hanna Skinner 9-22, 0-2, 6, 19
Kara Menke 11-16, 1-3, 8, 25
Josie Hajny 1-3, 0-0, 3, 2
Kynnedy Beale 0-0, 0-0, 1, 0
Natalia Wehrman 0-1, 0-0, 0, 0
L/N team total: 24-57, 2-7, 32, 53
Hampton total: 14-53, 9-10, 41, 38
This week the girls travel to Hershey, Nebraska for their annual tournament Friday and Saturday.
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