GLYNDON, Minn. - Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton was too determined to sweat Friday night's loss out of its system to give in to fatigue.
Playing for the second time in less than 20 hours, the Rebels used constant defensive pressure and spurts of offense to upend Park Rapids 56-41 on Saturday afternoon in girls basketball.
Minnesota Class 2A D-G-F had a 21-7 scoring edge in the first 11 minutes, 8 seconds of the first half and a 22-7 advantage to start the second half in handing the Class 3A Panthers just their third loss in 19 games this winter.
So much for negative momentum.
"It was kind of more of a get over it, move on kind of thing," sophomore forward Jenna Green said of recovering from Friday's 51-45 loss, which put the Rebels 0-for-2 against Barnesville and two games out of first place in the Heart O' Lakes Conference. "We really pushed the ball up court. We do that well."
ADVERTISEMENT
Park Rapids center Janessa Wolff does everything well. The 6-foot-3 junior finished with nine rebounds, three steals, three blocks and a team-high 15 points. But in the second half she scored only two - a total equal to the number of defenders guarding her full-time.
After posting the final eight points of the first half to get within six, the Panthers were limited to seven points in the first 13:22 of the second to fall behind 51-30.
"The problem with having her (Wolff) do everything is we have a tendency to stand and watch," Park Rapids coach John Schumacher said, "and we need not to do that, especially against a team that applies the pressure like D-G-F does."
In addition to forcing 24 turnovers, three Rebels starters scored in double figures and a fourth - Kayla Skalsky - had 11 rebounds. Plus, the bench chipped in 11 points and more minutes than usual to compensate for tired legs.
"I didn't know how the girls would respond, if we'd have a letdown - sometimes that's what happens," D-G-F coach Roger Safranski said. "We didn't have any time to prepare for them. ... It was chalk talk 10 minutes before the B-squad game."
PARK RAPIDS (16-3): Schumacher 0 0-0 0, Czeczok 2 3-6 7, Knuttila 4 0-0 10, Wolff 7 1-3 15, Tretbar 2 2-2 6, Gravalin 1 0-0 3. Totals 16 6-11 41.
D-G-F (13-4): Baumgartner 0 0-0 0, Lopez 5 1-2 13, Skalsky 1 1-1 3, Drechsel 4 4-5 14, Green 6 2-2 15, Brantner 3 0-1 6. Totals 21 8-11 56.
Half: DGF 29, PR 23. 3-point goals: Knuttila 2, Gravalin. Total fouls: PR 13, DGF 13. Rebounds: PR 35 (Czeczok 11), DGF 31 (Skalsky 11). Turnovers: PR 24, DGF 16.
ADVERTISEMENT
Readers can reach Forum reporter Terry Vandrovec at (701) 241-5548
