Patriots Bounce Back After Second-Round Loss
By: Kayden Schumacher, a senior at Leigh High School
After receiving a bye in the first round of the Conference Tournament, the Patriots faced their first loss of the season to Oakland-Craig in second round of the tournament. They were then matched to play the Humphrey/Lindsay Holy Family Bulldogs. The Patriots came out ready to play and redeem themselves on Friday, February 5th in the Leigh gym.
The Patriots brought the fire right away, and they ended the first quarter leading with a score of 19-6. The Bulldogs responded well to the Patriots’ pressure in the second quarter. Going into halftime, the score was 29-23, with the Patriots still ahead.
The third quarter was very high scoring for both teams, with the Patriots scoring 24 points, and the Bulldogs scoring 21 points. This was the most offensive quarter of the game for both teams.
Head coach, Matt Murren, said, "The 3rd quarter was wild. It ended up being 24-21 in our favor at the end of the quarter. We were able to make shots but just couldn't get stops. Offensively though we kept ourselves in the game that quarter. Alissa Kasik really hit some big 3's for us that were key. Our defensive performance in the 4th quarter limiting them to 5 points was key to allow us to extend the lead".
The outcome in the game was in the Patriots’ favor, with a final score of 66-49. This was a big win for the Patriots, and they were able to bounce back from a tough loss.
This was a great all-around win with all players contributing. The team was led offensively by freshman Chloe Hanel with 19 points and senior Alissa Kasik with 16 points. Junior Kennedy Settje led the team in rebounds with 8.
Cassidy Hoffman, a senior at Leigh High School, said, “It felt great to come back after the loss and win especially against a solid team. We played great offensively and put up a lot of points. We just hope to find our defensive identity again before sub districts and districts hit.”
"They are a great team and well coached,” Coach Murren continued. “We know a lot about each other as we live right down Highway 91 from each other. We knew keys to the game were going to be to make it as tough as possible on Schneider inside and limit their open looks on the perimeter."
Game Stats:
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Final
CL: 19 10 24 13 66
HLHF: 6 17 21 5 49
(Points, rebounds, assists, steals)
Chloe Hanel--19, 5 ,6, 3; Makenna Held-- 2, 1, 0,1; Kennedy Settje--7, 8, 2, 1; Faith Indra--5, 1, 2, 2; Cassidy Hoffman-- 10, 6, 1, 2; Alissa Kasik-- 16, 2, 1, 0; Kayden Schumacher--7, 4, 0, 2