KoMets dominate Tigers

After a loss to Lake City earlier last week, the Kasson-Mantorville girls’ basketball team rebounded, literally and metaphorically, by beating Albert Lea 66-37 on Thursday, Jan 16.
            The KoMets jumped out to an early 48-16 lead by half time. 
“K-M used a combination of good full court pressure and defensive rebounding and inside out offense to build the lead,” said Head Coach Ryan Haraldson.
He noted that 48 points scored in the first half was the most scored in any half this season by the KoMets.
One reason, he said, K-M was able to score so many points in the first half was because they had success in the post.
“We had luck pounding the basketball inside to Mya Suess who led all scorers with 17 points in the first half,” he said.
In addition to quality scorers, K-M also had good quantity as they had 11 different scorers in the contest.
Another advantage the KoMets had was on the boards. They held a 47-19 rebound advantage by the end of the game.
Thanks to scoring and rebounding, the lead grew to more than 35 points by the nine-minute mark of the second half so the mercy rule went into effect with the clock running.
On top of scoring and rebounding, Haraldson said the home crowd provided another advantage.
“The game was played in the south gym, which created a great atmosphere! It gets really loud in there and the crowd was really behind the team on Parents Night,” he said.
K-M is now 12-6 on the season and 4-2 in section 1AAA. 
            The KoMets’ next game is on the road against Byron at 7:45 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 24.
K-M stats: Points: Suess 20, Ellie Bigelow 7, Irish 6, Shubert 6, Shimek 5, Tozier 5, Kress 5, Ashlyn Bigelow 4, Larson 3, Matuska 3 and Cummings 2. Rebounds: Suess 13, Tozier 6, Shubert 6, and Ellie Bigelow 5. Assists: Ashlyn Bigelow 2, Shimek 2, and Irish 2. Steals: Larson 2, Ashlyn Bigelow 2, Suess 2