The Becker Lady bulldogs split two games this week, losing a close one to Cathedral Thursday and beating Apollo by 14 Monday.
Becker 78, Apollo 64
Even though the Bulldogs won the game by a comfortable margin, Monday’s basketball game against St. Cloud Apollo was closer than the final score.
Throughout the game there were many lead changes until about seven minutes left. Apollo dictated the tempo for much of the night and Becker struggled getting back on defense to start the game.
Lariah Washington led Apollo with 22 points. She attacked the basket well and was deadly from the foul line, going 9/9 in the game.
“We tried to deny her the basketball, but she gave us fits,” said Head Coach Dan Baird. “She's a nice player and super athletic.”
The Bulldogs were led by Renee Tripp, who scored 15 points.
“Renee was asked to do a lot in this game,” said Baird. “She was asked to stop Washington, so it was nice to see her lead us in scoring.”
Baird likes Renee’s super quick first step, which allows her to attack the basket going baseline.
Haley Benda also did a nice job guarding Washington.
“Haley also sparked our second half run with eight points and excellent defense,” the coach said. “Haley penetrated gaps in their 2-3 zone and found open players all night long.”
Madi Kerzman was a tough matchup for Apollo with her size and ability under the basket.
“We tried to pound the ball inside to Madi as much as we could, due to our height advantage,” said Baird. “Madi came through.”
Claire Thorn scored eight points and played excellent defense down the stretch. With her size, she prevented easy buckets and blocked several huge shots.
Julia Bengtson continued to do a nice job running the show at point guard for as an eighth grader.
“Julia has excellent ball-handling skills and is second on our team in scoring at 11 points per game,” Baird said. “Pretty good for an eighth grader.”
With the win, Becker improved to 9-12 overall and 3-2 in Section 5AAA. Apollo fell to 5-14, 1-4 in the section.
Becker scoring: Tripp 15, Kerzman 14, Bengtson 10, Courtney Nuest 8, Benda 8, Thorn 8, Lexi Masog 7, McKenna Anderson 5 and Alayna Lindquist 3.
Apollo scoring: Washington 22, Ashley Keopp 15, Jessica Timpane 13, Kayla Nguyen 6, Sami Moeller, 3, Maya Cloud 2, Calli Lynch 2 and Megan Lentz 1.
Cathedral 62, Becker 55
The St. Cloud Cathedral (16-5) Crusaders beat the Becker Bulldogs (9-13) in a Granite Ridge Conference game Thursday night in Becker.
Cathedral was sparked early by Megan Voit, who scored eight points right out of the gate. She also showed her strength by grabbing multiple loose balls and rebounds.
Cathedral hit seven three-pointers in the first half and ran a very sound five-out motion offense. Becker did all they could to stop Cathedral’s dribble penetration.
“Unfortunately, we didn't close out fast enough on their shooters,” said Coach Baird. “You have to give Cathedral credit. They hit the shots to start the contest.”
Voit finished with 14 points and Kelly Tomczik added 17.
The Bulldogs were led by Kerzman’s 16 points.
“We did a nice job feeding Madi the ball,” said Baird, “and she was really aggressive attacking the basket.”
Benda played excellent in the second half, sparking a brief Becker comeback.
“Haley was poised and did a nice job feeding Madi the ball in the post,” said Baird. “Haley is excellent at letting the game come to her. She calms others down.”
Bengtson scored 11 points and played another sound game. She hit big shots to keep Becker close to their competition.
The Bulldogs narrowed the gap to four points with less than a minute, but Cathedral converted most of their foul shots down the stretch.
Becker scoring: Kerzman 16, Bengtson 11, Benda 11, Tripp 6, Thorn 5 Lindquist 3, Nuest 2 and Masog 1.
Cathedral scoring: Tomczik 17, Abbey Medelberg 15, Voit 14, Morgan Prom 7, Hallie Hupf 6 and Julia Meyer 3.
Up Next
Becker travels to Monticello Tuesday night in an important Section 5AAA contest. They then head to Albany Thursday.
