Spartans rebound against Tigers on the road
After dropping their season opener to the Woodbine Tigers 55-39, the Exira-EHK Spartans girls basketball team returned to face the Tigers Tuesday night on the road and won 58-44.
“I think our first game we had against them we didn’t come ready to play,” said Sophomore Taryn Petersen. “I think we came in ready to play better than they did tonight, and I think we had more energy than they did. Energy gets us going.”
The first buckets of the game came from Senior Spartan Harlee Fahn via free throws, followed by a mid-range jump shot from Taryn Petersen to give the Spartans a 4-0 lead. Following Petersen’s basket, both teams got locked in with the final shot of the quarter coming from Senior Tiger Charlie Pryor making it a 15-13 Spartans lead.
Pryor tied the game with the first shot of the second quarter, but Petersen made back-to-back shots to put the Spartans back in front. Junior Tiger Taylor Hoefer attempted a 3-point shot and missed it, but Junior Katy Pryor grabbed the rebound, and put up a shot, forcing a timeout from Spartan head coach Tom Petersen.
Following the timeout, Junior Spartan Kadence Sporrer made a shot, giving the Spartans a 4-point lead. The Tigers managed to get their first lead of the game when they made the next three buckets going up by 22-21. Just before halftime, Freshman Spartan Zoey Rasmussen received a pass from Petersen and Rasmussen knocked down a 3-pointer giving the Spartans a 24-22 lead.
“For Alissa [Testroet] and Zoey to come in and provide what they always do is huge,” said Tom Petersen. “They know they’re going to have to do it. The good news is they’ve been there, done that. Zoey is still learning. She’s just a freshman out there as a deer in the headlights, so she’ll get there. She has been shooting the ball well for us, and hopefully those things continue.”
The Spartan offense took command of the game, opening the third quarter starting with a 3-pointer from Sporrer, which trickled down the rest of the lineup with baskets from Jaelynn Petersen and Taryn Petersen putting them up 33-26 forcing a timeout from Tiger head coach Ryan Coenen.
Following Coenen’s timeout, Taryn Petersen continued to bank home shots with a 3-pointer, followed later by a steal which turned into a layup, along with another mid-range jump shot, giving her a team a 40-30 lead heading into the final quarter.
Petersen opened the fourth quarter with a shot from 3-point range, which was followed by a 5-0 run for the Tiger offense. However, the Spartan offense got going once again with contributions from multiple players including a basket from Testroet and a 3-pointer from Sophomore Riley Miller, helping lead the Spartans to their seventh win of the season.
“One of the things we had talked about before the game was how we got dominated on the boards last time,” said Tom Petersen. “They outrebounded us by over 50. I think we did a pretty good job tonight on the boards. I was very happy with what our girls did.”
The Spartans returned home Thursday to battle the 2-8 Ar-We-Va Rockets. The Rockets are led by Sophomore Gabrielle Hunding averaging 9.9 points, 7.9 rebounds, and 1.2 assists per game.
“Like every game, we’ve got to play with energy, we’ve got to put a lot of effort in,” said Taryn Petersen. “Practice before has to be decent, but we need to stay focused and execute everything we’re supposed to be doing.”
