Upping their record to 3-1, Shawna Zabinski and Kelly Susa's junior high girls easily downed a young Le Sueur-Henderson team on Monday in Cleveland’s small gym.
Kiera Schipper opened the scoring when she made the back end of two foul shots. Valentina Rohlfing followed with a jumper for two points, and then Schipper took a Kiya Sohn handoff in for a layup.
Rohlfing stole and drove half the floor for a basket, Schipper took an in-bound pass up and in, and Haddie Jobe stole and scored on a layup for a 11-0 lead before the Giants finally got on board after making a jumper.
With Jobe on the assist, Kaitlyn Flowers scored. The Giants went inside for a basket, but after an Aubrey Blaschko layup, the Clippers were up comfortably 15-4 at the break.
Taking a Flowers toss, Jobe put in a layup for the first basket of the second half. The Giants responded with a jumper for two points, but Sohn assisted an inside basket off the hands of Schipper for a 19-6 Cleveland advantage and the start of a 10-point run.
Jobe gave up the ball but got it back and scored on a layup. After a Sohn steal, Rohlfing hit a layup and then followed up with the next two baskets, the first on a base-line drive and the second when she scored on a layup after a Blaschko steal.
LSH put in a jumper for their last basket. Assisted by Jobe, Schipper put in a basket from near the rim, and Rohlfing punctuated the win with another layup.
With a dozen points, Rohlfing led all players. Schipper, who paced the team during its win in Alden last Thursday, added nine points. Jobe contributed six points. Blaschko and Flowers each put in a basket.
The junior high girls opened their season on December 1 with a loss to host St. Clair by one point on a buzzer beater. Three days later, split into a seventh-grade team and an eighth-grade team, they both beat visiting Granada-Huntley-East Chain/Truman. On December 8, back as a combo, they topped Alden-Conger/Glenville Emmons.
They travel to Madelia tomorrow for one combined game. On Friday, they will have a rematch with Le Sueur-Henderson at Le Sueur High School.
Seventh grader Valentina Rohlfing swipes the ball away for a steal.
Eighth grader Haddie Jobe races the ball down court.
Seventh grader Aubrey Blaschko takes a look before going in for a layup.
Eighth grader Taylor Wolf gets clotheslined on her way to the hoop.
Eighth grader Kaitlyn Flowers puts the ball up under pressure.
Seventh grader Ava Kluntz looks for an opening from the baseline.
Kiya Sohn searches for an open teammate.