Abby Hennen leads Vikings over YMe

The cold streak that hit Minnesota this past week took its toll on sports teams. The Minneota girls were no different.
Without much practice the Vikings finally got back on the court and turned in a 60-36 win over Yellow Medicine East to push their record to 17-0.
“I was happy with a lot of things. We had just one practice with five days off,” said Coach Chad Johnston. Yet, “We were doing a lot of good things,” he said.
Sophomore Abby Hennen led the way with 20 points and 11 rebounds. “I’d like to see a little more movement against the zone,” said Coach Johnston, but he was happy with the way Hennen sank three, three-pointers..
“Abby’s three’s opened up the game,” the coach said.
Perhaps the best thing Johnston saw was the way Lydia Sussner and Lizzy Gillingham shook off injuries and stretched themselves out. “A plus (to not having practices or games) was to give the girls a few days to heal. That was the plus,” the coach said.
It didn’t Minneota long to take control of this game. A 13-point run spurted the Vikings to a 17-2 lead. It was 37-12 at half and the outcome was never in doubt.
The on thing that worried Coach Johnston was YME’s height.  — and the ball control and shooting abilities of Madison Hinz.
But they shut out 5-11 Meeghen Dahlager, 5-11 Mackenzie Dyrdahl got just 14 points and held Hinz to just two free throws. “We had a goal of shutting her out, but she got those to free shots,” said Coach Johnston.
YME brought in 6-0 freshman Shelby Mortenson and she scored eight points with a block and four rebounds. “It’s tough to het shots against a 6-0 girl,” the coach added.

MINNEOTA (hopefully) will continue their season Monday and Tuesday at Tracy-Milroy-Balaton and at Brandon Valley, SD.
They have one eye on the weatherman, who threatens to cause problems getting those games played. “We really want to play Brandon Valley. The girls look forward to playing them,” said Assistant Coach Dale Kockelman.
“We’ve already lost two games. If we don’t play Brandon Valley it’s unlikely that game will be made up,” the coach said.

MINNEOTA (2’s, 3’s, FT, F, TP) Morgan Kockelman 3 0 2-2 0 8; Abby Hennen 4 4 0-0 0 20; Audra Buysse 0 0 0-0 0 0; McKenna Yost 0 0 0-0 0 0; Lizzy Gillingham 1 0 0-0 0 2; Lydia Sussner 3 0 4-7 0 10; Morgan Hennen 3 1 0-2 3 9; Natalee Rolbiecki 2 0 0-0 1 4; Abby Rost 1 1 0-0 1 5; Jeren Rost 0 0 0-0 0 0; Mariah Muhl 0 0 0-0 2 ; Katie Konold 0 0 0-0 0 0; Madison Sorenson 1 0 0-0 0 2. Totals 19 5 6-11 7 60.
YELLOW MEDICINE EAST (2’s, 3’s, FT, F, TP) Mackenzie Dyrdahl 7 0 0-0 0 14; Hannah Gullickson 2 0 3-3 2 7; Meeghen Dalager 0 0 0-0 2 0; Madison Hinz 0 0 2-2 2 2; Samantha Anderson 1 0 0-0 2 2; Lauren McCosh 0 0 0-0 0 0; Shelby Mortenson 4 0 0-0 0 8; Emily Johnson 1 0 0-0 0 2; Brylea Ruff-Mulligan 0 0 0-0 0 0; Chelsie Malinao 0 0 0-0 0 0; Yansi Flores 0 1 0-0 0 3. Totals 14 1 5-5 7 36.

Score by Halves
YME             12    24     —    36
Minneota      37    33     —    60
Statistics:
SHOOTING: Minneota (2's 18 of 40 for 45 percent; 3's 6 of 20 for 30 percent; overall 24 of 60 for 40 percent); YME (2's 14 of 35 for 40 percent; 3's 1 of 10 for 10 percent; overall 15 of 45 for 33 percent).
FREE THROWS: Minneota 6 of 11 for 54 percent; YME 5 of 5 for 100 percent.
REBOUNDS: Minneota 39 (A. Hennen 11; Rolbiecki 7; Sussner 6; Gillingham 4; Sorenson 3; M. Hennen, J. Rost, Muhl 2 each, Kockelman, Buysse, 1 each. YME 22 (Gullickson 6, Dyrdahl, Mortenson 4 each, Anderson, McCosh 2 each, Hinz, Johnson, Flores, Ruff-Mulligan 1 each).
TURNOVERS: Minneota 19; YME 22.
STEALS: Minneota 11 (Sussner, M. Hennen, Rolbiecki 3 each; Kockelman, A. Hennen 1 each); YME 2 (Hinz 2).

ASSISTS: Minneota 6 (M. Hennen 3, A. Hennen 2, Sussner 1); YME 2 (Dyrdahl, Hinz 1 each).
BLOCKS: Minneota 0; YME: 2 (Gullickson, Mortenson 1 each).

B SQUAD: Minneota 37, YME 24 (Minneota undefeated).