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By Paul Lecker
MarshfieldAreaSports.com
SPENCER – For 2½ quarters, the Spencer girls basketball team looked to be experiencing the lingering effects of a tough loss to Owen-Withee last Friday.
In danger of dropping their second game in a row, the Rockets kicked it into gear, outscoring Colby 28-11 over the final 10:35 of the game to beat the Hornets 53-36 in a Cloverbelt Conference East Division game Tuesday night at Spencer High School.
Spencer struggled through the first half, making just five of 30 shots from the field and missing six of eight free-throw attempts, yet only trailed 15-14.
The Rockets got their offense going in the third quarter, but didn’t take the lead until Kyleigh Hebert drove inside and scored at the 2:35 mark to give Spencer a 27-25 lead.
From there, the Rockets soared. Courtney Schulz and Tynae Phillips scored inside to start an offensive onslaught that saw Spencer make 12 of its final 13 shots from the field.
The Rockets used a 9-2 run to start the fourth quarter and built a double-digit lead when Tara Matter and Schulz each hit back-to-back baskets to give Spencer a 45-34 lead.
“We came out flat. It just wasn’t like our team in the first two quarters,” Spencer coach Dan Brodziski said. “I think the girls came out and made some things happen, and that got us going on the offensive end. After that, they just fed off of that.
Hebert had two straight layups and Matter added another to finish off an 8-0 run as Spencer opened up a 17-point lead.
Matter finished with 18 points and eight rebounds, and Schulz added 16 points on 7 of 9 shooting.
The difference for the Rockets was the urgency they felt knowing they had to win to stay in the Cloverbelt East race, Brodziski said.
“We’ve been playing pretty good basketball, but if we came out here and laid an egg tonight, it wouldn’t have helped us out mentally or in the conference as far as moving forward and trying to reach one of our goals,” Brodziski said. “They’ve been coming into practice every day and working hard. No one’s settling for less. Team chemistry is definitely something that this group has.”
Bouncing back from the loss to Owen-Withee was “extremely important” for the Rockets, Schulz said.
“We knew we had to pick up,” Schulz said. “For conference, we want to be at the top. It led to us pushing it. It’s hard to come off a big loss to Owen, but we were able to do it.”
Spencer hosts Gilman on Friday.
Rockets 53, Hornets 36
Colby 6 9 14 7 – 36
Spencer 6 8 18 21 – 53
COLBY (36): Emilie Morrow 2-10 0-0 6, Mollie Duginski 0-4 0-0 0, Heather Guy 0-1 0-0 0, Chelsea Rahm 2-4 0-1 4, Hanah Woik 0-1 0-0 0, Taylor Lynn 2-4 0-0 4, Jenny Meacham 0-0 0-0 0, Sarah Gamillo 2-4 12-17 16, Corrine Meacham 1-5 2-4 4, Micaela Haas 1-1 0-0 2. FG: 10-39. FT: 14-22. 3-pointers: 2-11 (Morrow 2-9, Duginski 0-4). Rebounds: 23 (C. Meacham 5, Gamillo 5). Total fouls: 14. Fouled out: none. Record: 4-5, 4-2 Cloverbelt East.
SPENCER (53): Krystal Weier 3-7 0-0 7, Alicia Endreas 0-6 0-1 0, Claire Drews 1-4 0-2 2, Courtney Schulz 7-9 2-4 16, Tara Matter 8-14 2-4 18, Aubrie Bissonette 1-8 0-0 2, Kyleigh Hebert 3-9 0-2 6, Tynae Phillips 1-3 0-0 2. FG: 24-60. FT: 4-14. 3-pointers: 1-4 (Weier 1-2, Endreas 0-1, Bissonette 0-1). Rebounds: 29 (Matter 8). Total fouls: 13. Fouled out: none. Record: 6-2, 4-2 Cloverbelt East.