By ELI LUTGENS
Publisher/Editor
Over the holiday break, the NRHEG girls' basketball team finished second in its tournament and suffered the first loss of the season over the three-game stretch.
The Panthers remained undefeated with blowout wins over JWP 73-27 and Minnesota Valley Lutheran 80-38. They lost to LCWM in the championship game of their holiday tournament, falling 58-35 in New Richland.
The Panthers traveled to Janesville on Dec. 20, and handily defeated the Bulldogs after jumping out to a 4116 lead.
“We came out very aggressive, and got the tempo going in our favor,” NRHEG coach Onika Peterson said. “I think we pushed JWP into a faster game than what they would have liked. It was a nice team win going into the Christmas vacation.”
Leading the Panthers in scoring was Camryn
VanMaldeghem with 15 points, followed by Faith Nielsen with 12, Sidney Schultz 12, Quinn VanMaldeghem 11, Hallie Schultz 8, Erin Jacobson 7, Preslie Nielsen 6, and Chloe Stork 2.
In the third annual holiday tournament, the first since the Covid pandemic, NRHEG hosted St. James, Lake Crystal-Wellcome-Memorial, and Minnesota Valley Lutheran.
In the opening round, the Panthers handled MVL 8038, setting up a rematch of last year's sub-section championship game with LCWM.
The game with MVL was close for about five minutes. With the score tied at 5, the Panthers went on an 80 run with five points coming from Faith Nielsen on a three-pointer from the top of the key, along with an acrobatic layup, and a free throw.
The Panthers didn’t look back after taking a 40-16 lead into halftime.
Faith Nielsen led the Panthers in scoring with 24 points, followed by: Sidney Schultz at 22, Hallie Schultz 8, Jacobson 8, Camryn VanMaldeghem 6, Quinn VanMaldeghem 5, Tatum Smith Vulcan 4, and Preslie Nielsen 3.
In the most anticipated game of the girls 2022-23 season, the Panthers' only lead of the night came after an opening-possession layup from Faith Nielsen.
The Knights answered.
Over the next 6 minutes, LCWM scored 10 straight points on jumpers, fast breaks, and free throws. The Panthers, however, would fight back, cutting the lead to 14-13 on a Sidney Schultz 3-pointer with 6 minutes left in the first half.
Unfortunately, the Knights scored the next 16 points and the Panthers scored none.
The second half wasn’t any better. In total, the Panthers went nearly 11 minutes of play without a bas
ket. The Knights scored the first 8 points of the second half before Sidney Schultz scored on a fast break. Over the final 14 minutes of play the Panthers actually kept pace with the Knights, but it was too little, too late.
“We took one on the chin,” Coach Peterson said of the game. “This will be a great game to break down film and show the girls what we can improve on. Hopefully, come playoff time we can have another chance at them.”
The Panthers were led in scoring by Sidney Schultz with 14 points, followed by Hallie Schultz 8, Jacobson 8, Faith Nielsen 4, and Camryn VanMaldeghem 1.
The Panthers' overall record fell to 6-1. They remain undefeated in the Gopher Conference at 3-0.
The Panthers play next in a boy/girl doubleheader at Maple River on Friday.