On Tuesday night, the McDonell Lady Macks basketball team earned another Western Cloverbelt win to remain undefeated in conference play.
The Lady Macks traveled to Fall Creek to take on the 5-3 Crickets, and went home with a 52-40 win.
McDonell took the lead early in the game, as they applied pressure with their full-court press on defense and operated smoothly on offense.
Junior Emily Cooper hit a wide open three-pointer from the corner to put the Lady Macks up 10-2 just over five minutes into the game.
Before the midway point of the first half, the Crickets had narrowed it to a three-point deficit. A basket by Fall Creek’s freshman Jasmin Heuer made it 13-10 Lady Macks half-way through the first half.
With five minutes left in the first half, the Lady Macks held a slim 20-16 lead. Fall Creek found some good scoring opportunities in the paint and converted at the free throw line to narrow their deficit.
Cooper hit another three-pointer to put the Lady Macks up by double-digits, 27-17, with a minute left in the half.
The Lady Macks led 29-17 at the half. Senior Marley Hughes led with 11 points, including three makes from three-point range, while Cooper had 10 points.
Coming out of the locker room after halftime, the Lady Macks began to run away with the game as they continued their hot shooting from behind the arc. Hughes swished her fourth three-pointer of the game to make it 34-19 Lady Macks with just under 16 minutes left to play.
A basket by Crickets sophomore Anna Dougherty broke up a 10-2 run by the Lady Macks to begin the second half. The Crickets trailed the Lady Macks 39-21 with 12:30 left to play.
Midway through the second half, the Crickets were in need of a rally, trailing the Lady Macks 39-25.
However, McDonell made it difficult for Fall Creek to get back in the game, as they applied constant pressure on defense and made few mistakes on offense. The Crickets struggled to get any rhythm on offense throughout most of the game.
A three-pointer by Crickets senior Jenna Anders made it 48-37 Lady Macks, but only a minute remained in the game.
Dougherty made a three-pointer for the Crickets at the buzzer, but the game ended as a 52-40 win for the Lady Macks in Fall Creek.
Hughes led the Lady Macks with 19 points, while Cooper finished with 16 points. Sophomore Sophie Schmidgall added eight points and junior Aubrey Dorn had seven points.
Heuer and Dougherty led the Crickets with 11 points each.
McDonell head coach Don Cooper said after the game that his team’s patience helped them to win on the road against a strong opponent.
“Fall Creek is a great team, well coached,” Cooper said. “It’s hard to win in this place.”
Cooper praised his captains, Hughes and Cooper, for their consistency throughout the season and in this game.
“They’re two captains for a reason.” Cooper said. “Marley Hughes and Emily Cooper are playing terrific basketball, and what I really like is that the other teammates around them are starting to get better and more confident. So I really like how we’re gelling as a team.”
He said he liked the way his team responded to Fall Creek’s physical style of play and praised them for how they closed out the win after leading for the whole game.
“We showed a little bit of grit at the end,” Cooper said.
Next up for the Lady Macks, they host Osseo-Fairchild on Friday at 7:15 p.m. As for the Crickets, they host Regis on Friday at 7:15 p.m.
