by Anthony Robinson

The Atlantic Trojanns’ basketball team hosted the Red Oak Tigers Friday, Jan. 14, for the Trojanns’ pink-out game of the season.  The Trojanns’ sported pink uniforms on Friday night.   Along with the game, the high school hosted a soup supper, with the proceeds going to the Cass County Relay for life.  With a crowd filled with pink from head to toe, the Trojanns were able to win 47-26.

“We battled through things all night, and got a few shots to fall in the end,” coach Casey Pelzer said.

During the first two minutes of the game, the Trojanns were firing on all cylinders, opening with a seven-to-nothing run.  The Tigers inched their way back into the game before sophomore Mackenzie Holmes hit a three-point field goal from the left corner to extend the Trojann lead to 6 with two minutes remaining in the first.  The Trojanns led 16-9 after the first quarter of play.

Two early lay-ups by junior forward Samantha McConnell extended the Trojanns’ lead to 11 in the second quarter.   After a timeout by Red Oak, the Tigers were able to get a bucket to close the gap.  The Trojanns ended the second quarter with seven free throws, taking a 27-17 lead into the break.  At the half the Trojanns were led by senior forward Taylor Young with 10 points and 6 points from junior Paige Kennon.  The Trojanns went into the half eight for nine from the free-throw line.  The Tigers had only five field goals in the first half, with three of those coming in the three-point fashion.

In the their opening possession of the second half, the Tigers had four chances to score, but were unable to convert.  The first two minutes and 30 seconds of the third quarter proved to be scoreless for both teams, causing Pelzer to call a timeout.  The first two points of the third quarter came at the 5:15 mark, after two free throws by Red Oak.  After a three-pointer by freshman Blake Bergren, the Tigers trailed by only 5, 27-22.  After a six-minute scoreless drought for the Trojanns, Young took a strong move to the hoop and was able to convert the three-point play.  The Trojanns finished the third quarter on a nine-to-nothing run, giving them a 14-point lead into the final quarter of the game, 36-22.

After Young went one for two at the line, the Trojanns took their largest lead of 17 points, 41-24, early in the fourth.  After hitting 11 free throws over the first 26 minutes of the game, the Trojanns were ice cold from the  line in the fourth, missing five straight.  Holmes ended the drought with a free throw with just over two minutes to play in the game, to extend the Trojanns lead to 42-26.  After three more free throws and a lay-up at the buzzer by junior Alisha Hinzmann, the bleeding was over for the Tigers at 47-26.

The Trojans were led by Young with 16 points. Kennon had nine points, going seven for 11 at the free throw line.  “I had a lot of confidence,” Kennon said.

As a team the Trojanns went to the line 26 times and were able to hit 15.  “We’re getting a lot more free throws because of more post touches.  We’re getting a lot more quality looks. We’re not settling for 15 foot jumpers,” Pelzer said. The Trojanns also took many strong moves to the hoop the entire game, causing the Tigers to foul the pink jerseys in order to stop the easy lay-ups.

According to coach Pelzer, the girls were playing with a lot of mental toughness.

“I felt like we ran the floor well.  We need to keep our game play at a high pace in order to play Kuemper Tuesday,” Kennon noted after outscoring the Tigers by 21.

The game against the Knights is at home on Tuesday at the middle school.  Tip-off for the varsity game is set for 7:30.