VOLGA – Sioux Valley got a lift from a pair of middle-schoolers during a home-opening 54-34 win over Baltic in Big East Conference girls’ basketball action Thursday night.
Miakken Vincent scored 18 points despite not having her best shooting night and grabbed eight rebounds.
Eighth-graders Ashley Bjerke and Julia Schneider came off the bench to score 10 points apiece. Bjerke also dished out five assists and Schneider came up with seven boards.
“We had a couple of eighth-graders really, really step up tonight and those eighth-graders are only as good as some of our leadership with Miakken Vincent, Ellie Schmidt, Perri Liedtke, Taylor Jung – those kids just bring it at practice; they’re fun to be around,” said Cossack coach Jamie Granum. “Our young kids are inexperienced, but they put a lot of time in this offseason and they’ve earned what they’re getting right now.”
The Cossacks, who used a full-court press throughout, opened up a 15-5 lead after a quarter and pushed the advantage to 36-13 at halftime.
“I thought we came out strong; we executed our game plan,” Granum said. “When the kids play hard, good things happen on the floor and that’s what we’re trying to get through our first couple weeks of practice. And they executed and then they had a lot of fun with this win.
“A lot of people in the area were thinking we’re going to be down. You know, we probably are, but our kids battled and played hard.”
The Cossacks have just two seniors on the roster in Jung and Alicia VanderWal.
Kelsey Keating totaled 13 points, five boards and four dimes to pace the Lady Bulldogs (0-3, 0-3).
Sioux Valley (1-1, 1-0) is host to Parker in the first game of a doubleheader Monday at 6:30 p.m.
SIOUX VALLEY 54, BALTIC 34
Baltic (0-3, 0-3 BEC)
Kelsey Keating 6-10 1-3 13, Breanna Turner 0-3 0-0 0, Kylie Schneider 1-5 0-0 2, Berklee Erickson 1-5 0-0 2, Kami VanWyhe 2-4 0-0 4, Kierstin Bintliff 1-2 0-0 2, Sami Polzin 0-7 2-2 2, Jetta Hefty 0-0 0-0 0, Sydney Bossert 0-0 0-0 0, Julia Pittmann 0-1 0-0 0, Cami Artz 2-2 0-0 4, Josie Oyen 0-2 0-1 0. Totals 15-41 3-6 34.
Sioux Valley (1-1, 1-0 BEC)
Taylor Jung 0-0 0-0 0, Perri Liedtke 2-3 0-0 4, Ellie Schmidt 0-66 1-2 1, Miakken Vincent 8-26 0-0 18, Reagan Johnson 3-9 1-2 7, Ashley Bjerke 4-6 0-0 10, Kayla Klocker 0-1 0-0 0, Kaitlin Ruden 0-0 0-0 0, Julia Schneider 4-8 0-0 10, Alicia VanderWal 2-3 0-0 4. Totals 23-62 2-4 54.
Baltic 5 8 6 15 – 34
Sioux Valley 15 21 5 13 – 54
3-point goals – B 1-7 (Erickson 1-2, Schneider 0-1, VanWyhe 0-1, Oyen 0-1, Polzin 0-2), SV 6-27 (Schneider 2-3, Bjerke 2-4, Vincent 2-15, Klocker 0-1, Schmidt 0-4). Rebounds – B 24 (Keating 5), SV 34 (Vincent 8). Assists – B 13 (Keating 4), SV 21 (Bjerke 5). Steals – B 6 (Schneider, VanWyhe, Bintliff, Polzin, Hefty, Artz 1), SV 14 (Jung, Vincent 3). Blocks – B 0, SV 0. Turnovers – B 26, SV 26. Total fouls – B 6, SV 16. Fouled out – none. Technical fouls – none.
