Leading by as many as 19 points in the second half, the Spirit Lake girls basketball team saw their lead evaporate as LeMars rallied to take a one-point lead in the final minute of Tuesday night’s Lakes Conference contest. Indians guard KJ Veldman then buried a pair of free throws to regain the advantage at 46-45, a score that would hold up as Emily Ellefson’s three-point attempt at the buzzer went in-and-out for the Bulldogs. Veldman finished with a game-high 28 points, half of which came in the games first eight minutes. Carolyn Ahlers and Molly Renken paced LeMars with eleven points each, as the Bulldogs fall to 3-5 in conference and 6-8 overall. The sixth-straight win propels 14th-ranked Spirit Lake to 6-2 in the league and 12-3 overall. On Friday the Indians travel to Storm Lake for a matchup with the Tornadoes on KUOO.
Click here for the postgame interview with coach Rick Reinking.
Conference front-runner Estherville-Lincoln Central withstood a late surge from rival Emmetsburg on Tuesday to keep its perfect league record in tact, defeating the E-Hawks, 42-33. The second-ranked Midgets got twelve points from Emily Kirchner, while Emmetsburg received a ten-point effort from Paige Naig. ELC owns an 8-0 record in the Lakes and 15-1 overall, and will host Spencer on Friday. The E-Hawks drop to 3-5 in conference games and 8-6 on the year. They host LeMars on Friday on Y100.
Elsewhere in the Lakes, Western Christian routed Storm Lake, 69-10, and Spencer notched a ten-point win against Cherokee, 51-41. The Tigers are an even 4-4 in league play.
Four quarters wasn’t enough to decide a winner in Lake Park on Tuesday, however, when the buzzer sounded at the end of overtime, visiting West Bend-Mallard had earned a 49-48 victory over the hometown Wolves. Noreen Morrow registered a double-double with 21 points and 13 rebounds. Macy Gunderson tallied 16 points. HLP shot just 58-percent from the free throw line in the loss, which puts the Wolves at 5-2 in the Cornbelt Conference and now 6-8 overall. Friday they travel to CWL.
In other Cornbelt Conference games, North Sentral Kossuth/Armstrong-Ringsted secured a 43-30 victory over Ventura.
The Siouxland Conference featured four games, with Sibley-Ocheyedan improving to 5-7 in league play with a 48-33 victory over Sheldon. MOC-Floyd Valley finished with a lopsided 60-27 victory over Central Lyon. Sioux Center took care of West Lyon, 44-36. And Boyden-Hull defeated Rock Valley by a 59-42 final.
Other area games saw South O’Brien squeak out a 51-47 War Eagle victory against Unity Christian. Sioux Central dominated Laurens-Marathon, 60-22.
North of the border, Jackson County Central won at home over Redwood Valley, 56-33. Martin County West did the same, holding court against Nicollet, 56-46. And Worthington defeated Luverne, 47-40.
