Blossom girls split

The home-standing WEM girls finished the first half with a 10-0 scoring run, and that proved the difference in a 61-53 conference victory over the Blossoms Friday, Dec. 2.  The score was tied at 24, when the Bucs went on the streak.
“That one stretch proved costly,” remarked Coach John Bruns, “as WEM maintained that cushion for much of the second half.  We cut the margin to single digits late in the game, but we had dug too deep a hole.”
BP shot 37 percent from the field on 16 of 43 attempts, while the Bucs made 36 percent on 60 attempts. The Blossoms had a 36-26 edge in rebounds, but had 26 turnovers to just 16 for WEM.
Senior center Marissa Larson led the Blossom scoring for the second game in a row with 16 points, including 10 of 14 free throws. Kylie Forystek had 11 points, and Sam Wurst added nine points with 3 of 4 from the charity stripe.  
McKenna Hein pulled down 11 rebounds and accounted for eight points, and Larson added eight rebounds and blocked two shots.
WEM defeated the BP JV team in the prelim 49-27.  The Bucs fielded a quick and strong team that made finding shots difficult for the Blossoms. 
Megan Oswald had eight points for BP and Julia Worke added six.
   Free throws aids girls 
There is a Christmas song that chronicles a parade of the wooden soldiers.  BP used a parade of free throw shooters to defeat Triton in the season basketball opener for both teams. 
 A total of 48 fouls were whistled in the game, 32 by  the Cobras.
The Blossom girls had numerous chances to blow Triton away, but the team made only 27 of 55 trips to the charity stripe to keep the Cobras in the game until the final minutes. In the second half no Blossom could make two free throws in a row.
Because of the fouls and some ragged play by the teams, neither side could establish much rhythm in either half.  BP trailed 11-6 with 7 minutes gone in the first half, but free throws and late baskets by McKenna Hein, Sam Wurst, and Marissa Larson pulled the Blossoms into a 31-25 lead.  
The Blossoms would never trail the rest of the way. As Coach John Bruns commented,  “it wasn’t the prettiest of games, but we were able to pull out a win on shooting from the charity stripe and a superior edge in rebounding.” 
BP combed the boards for 62 rebounds, including 31 on the offensive end.
McKenna Hein, who played all but 30 seconds of the game, remarked, “It was really a rough game, but I thought overall we played pretty well for a first effort.”
Larson led the scoring parade with 20 points, to include going 10 of 20 from the free throw line. Sam Wurst counted 19 points, and she made 7 of 10 free throw attempts. 
 Kylie Forystek finished with 12 points and Hein added nine. Kendra Peterson had 10 points for the Cobras.
 Larson pulled down a whopping 21 rebounds, Wurst snagged 16, and Forystek added eight. 
The 64 points marked the most first-game points for the Blossoms in years.  In contrast, last year’s team reached the 60-point total just once during the entire season.  Of course, the prolific free throw shooting had a lot to do with the final score.  BP led by six with a minute to go in the game, and another 6-point run at the end forged the final 12-point edge.
Triton took control late n the JV preliminary and defeated the Blossoms 36-27. The Cobras led by one at the half, but Coach Cory Hendrickson blamed too many turnovers in the second half that allowed the winners to pull away.  Maggie Bruns and Megan Oswald each counted 8 points for BP.  “It was a typical first game, “Hendrickson commented, “but the girls played super hard, and that is all anyone can ask for.”  

*/