The Becker Lady Bulldogs basketball team dropped two of three games this week  to fall to 5-7, but their one win improved their Granite Ridge Conference record to 3-1.

 

Wildcats 68, Bulldogs 67

The Chisago Lakes Wildcats beat the Bulldogs by a score of 68-67 in an exciting AAA non-conference game in Monticello last Friday.  

 

Carmen Backes got an offensive rebound on a missed free throw with 6.7 seconds left and was fouled. Chisago Lakes was down one point at that time and Backes calmly made both foul shots to take the one-point lead.  

 

Julia Bengtson received the inbound pass, penetrated and kicked to Courtney Nuest, who missed a three pointer at the buzzer to give the girls a crushing defeat.

 

“This game was very exciting and back-and-forth,” said Head Coach Dan Baird.  

 

Bengtson led the Bulldogs in scoring with 23 points to go along with three assists.  

 

“Julia shot the ball extremely well in this game, connecting on three-of-six three pointers,” said Baird.

 

Haley Benda continued her consistent play with 14 points, going four-for-eight from beyond the arch.  As a team, Becker shot 42% for the game and was 10-for-14 from the free throw line.  

 

“We committed only 11 turnovers,” said Baird.  “We played maybe our most complete game of the year and fell a little short against an excellent team.”  

 

Backes — a University of Wisconsin recruit — and Aletha Kluge each tallied 23 points for the Wildcats.  Chisago Lakes (Ranked #7 QRF) improved to 5-3 on the season.

 

Alayna Lindquist scored 10 points for the Bulldogs to go along with four rebounds and four assists.  

 

“Alayna played another excellent game and continues to improve and work hard,” said the head coach.

 

Becker scoring:  Bengtson 23, Benda 14, Lindquist 10, Nuest 8, Masog 6, Kerzman 4 and Tripp 2.

 

Chisago Lakes scoring:  Backes 23, Alethea Kluge 23, Sarah Bjelland 7, Anna Peters 6, Hannah Gillach 6 and Heather Elfering 3.

 

The Bulldogs lost an important section game, 70-65 to the Apollo Eagles Tuesday night in St. Cloud.  

 

Lariah Washington dominated, scoring 35 points for the Eagles.  Apollo shot 50% for the game.  

 

Nuest was the leading scorer for Becker with 15 points. Bengtson added 12 points, six rebounds, seven assists and three steals to stuff the stat sheet.  

 

Tripp also had a solid game with 10 points, four rebounds, four assists and three steals.  

 

As a team, Becker shot 42%, but committed 18 turnovers.  

 

Becker scoring:  Nuest 15, Bengtson 12, Tripp 10, Benda 9, Fitzgerald 6, Kerzman 6, Lindquist 5 and Masog 2.

 

Apollo scoring:  Washington 35, Ashley Koep 11, Jessica Timpane 9, Jazz Sidmore 7, Kayla Nguyen 4, Chloe Swanson 2 and Shelby Pfannenstein 2.

 

The Bulldogs utterly destroyed the Mora Mustangs Thursday, scoring 52 points in the first half to cruise to an easy victory at home.

 

Becker’s full court pressure right from the get-go and high-quality shooting from Benda, Bengtson and Kerzman, allowed Coach Baird to utilize his bench to its full potential at home. Becker shot 18-of-34 in the first half.  

 

Benda was relentless attacking the basket, scoring 16 first half points and inspiring her teammates.  Bengtson scored 15 points and collected nine rebounds and had five steals.  

 

“Jules continues to run the show, and is doing a nice job for us, grabbing boards from the guard position,” said Baird.  

 

Kerzman scored 13 points to go with seven rebounds.  

 

“We had some nice entry passes to Madi in the low post which allowed her to work,” Coach Baird said.  “This was a nice victory after some tough defeats.”

 

Lindquist had a nice game, scoring eight points to go with five rebounds and five steals, playing great defense and making good decisions.

 

The Mustangs fall to 4-9.  

 

Becker scoring: Benda 18, Bengtson 15, Kerzman 13, Lindquist 8, Gruenes 6, Tripp 4, Masog 3, Mittelstaedt 2, Kent 2 and Gamble 1.

 

Mora scoring: Peyton Oslin 8, Morgan Mann 7, Kailey Peterson 3, Faith Nielson 3, Alyssa Onasch 2, Miryah Stone 2 and Angilina Sparrow 2.

 

Becker took on Cambridge-Isanti Friday night at home (full report on game in next week’s Citizen-Tribune).

 

Tuesday, they travel to Milaca and Friday they head to St. Cloud to take on Cathedral.