Aggressive acceleration propelled the Evergreen Lutheran girls basketball team to a 40-34 win against West Lutheran (Minnesota) in a Friday, Dec. 11, second session game at the 10th annual Great Western Shootout Tournament at the Eagle campus.
"We used our speed and quickness to win on defense," proclaimed Eagle head coach Jeff Kurbis. "(Markelle) Lance's three-point goal was big for us.."
Evergreen Lutheran stormed the boards early, but had problems getting the ball to drop against West Lutheran while fighting to four ties and an 8-8 tie after the first quarter. The Warriors worked the ball inside and were able to transition to a 16-11 lead with 5:10 remaining before halftime.
Southpaw Megume Poetter torched the net for a three-point goal and followed with another goal from the outside. Kailey Fuegmann converted a free throw ahead of Megume Poetter's standard three-point play as Evergreen Lutheran led 20-16 with less than four minutes to halftime. Fuegmann swished in an outside shot to leave the Eagles with a 24-19 halftime margin. Megume Poetter collected eight Eagle points.
"I felt like I could make the three-pointers because I knew we needed the points," said Megume Poetter.
Steals and rebounding enabled Evergreen Lutheran to charge to a 34-25 lead in the third quarter before settling for a 34-26 margin going into the fourth quarter. Markus then triggered her three-pointer to open the fourth quarter with EL now leading 37-26.
"Our plan was to take it to them," said Caty Poetter. "If we got fouled, we could make the free throws."
The stretch run featured a strong rally by the Warriors. Getting control of the rebounding while obtaining easy inside shots, West Lutheran chopped the lead to 37-30 and 38-34, but Caty Poetter's two free throws with 16.3 seconds remaining iced the game for Evergreen Lutheran.
"Both teams were tired," concluded Kurbis. "It was two gladiators just battling."
Megume Poetter finished the game with 12 points. Her sister, Caty, punched in seven points -- all in the second half -- to go along with eight rebounds. Melanie Laete added seven points for the Eagles. Erika Herman scored six points to go with five steals. Erika Hansen scored only two points, but grabbed five steals.
Rachel Usgaard scored a game high 17 points for West Lutheran.
