Girls Defeat Lady Indians in First Game of 2016

The Lady Scotties played against the Poplar Indians in their first conference game of the season at Scottie Gymnasium on Saturday. With 18 turnovers and 20 total fouls, they made more work for themselves than they had to, but ultimately earned the win over the Lady Indians.

Grabbing the lead in the first quarter of the game, Glasgow was able to prevent Poplar from ever gaining ground. Although things may have played out differently against another opponent, the number of fouls and turnovers didn't really impact the final outcome of the game. At times, the girls seemed a little scattered, but collected themselves when it really mattered.

Setting the pace early in the game, Glasgow did a good job of moving the ball around and maintaining their lead. At the half, the Lady Scotties had exactly twice as many points as the Lady Indians.

Glasgow returned for the second half with renewed energy and determination. Despite Poplar's efforts, Glasgow finished the game with a final score of 72-42.

Although all five starters contributed to the score, Coach Jon Kolstad pointed out that the team doesn't really focus on that. "We don't care how many points each player scores," he said. "We don't even talk about it." Kolstad describes the team as unselfish and explains that he is more complimentary of how they play, trying to praise good passes, teamwork, good defense, etc. "You will rarely hear me say, 'That was a good shot,'" he added.

That being said, here's how the girls finished the game:

Scoring only a third of her total points in the first half, it took senior Abbi Kolstad some time to warm up offensively. Finding her rhythm later in the game, she ultimately led the team in scoring with 22 points. Kolstad uncharacteristically earned three fouls during the game on Saturday.

Khloe Krumwiede finished the game with six points and consistently contributed with her defense. "Khloe has such intensity on defense, she consistently disrupts the offense and prevents them from scoring," said Kolstad. Her aggressive defense earned her three personal fouls during the game.

Tyra Johnson had a great game offensively and defensively, finishing the game with double digit rebounds and points. She was the second leading scorer with 19 of the total points, and led the team in rebounds with 10 of them attributed to her.

Leinie Hughes had some success early in the game, with eight points scored in the first half. However, after also earning three fouls before the half, Hughes had to cool her heels on the bench for a bit and lost some momentum. Eventually, Hughes found some balance and continued scoring with reduced foul calls. She finished the game with 14 total points and four personal fouls.

With her typical energy and aggressiveness, Jordan Kulczyk brought in 11 points during the game. "Jordan is the key for our fast breaks," said Kolstad. "When she touches the ball, the pace of the game picks up." Like Hughes, Kulczyk also earned four personal fouls during the game.

Coming off the bench, Lexi Nixdorf, Rikki Stormy, and Demi Aune also saw some playing time during the contest.

When questioned about turnovers and fouls in the games, assistant coach Steve Mayfield declared, "We foul way too much. We need to do something about that." Expanding further, Mayfield said, "The girls need to defend more by moving their feet instead of just using their arms and upper body."

As far as what the girls did right, Kolstad was quick to praise the team for their transitions in the game and said, "We took care of the ball really well and the girls did a good job of reversing the plays."

The Scotties will face Nashua on Friday in Glasgow and travel to Harlem Saturday for their second conference game of the season.

Kolstad was unable to speculate about the upcoming games, pointing out that he hasn't seen Nashua play, and said of Harlem, "You just never know. They have a new coach this year, so we'll just have to see how it plays out."