Prep Girls Basketball: New York Mills muzzles Pillager, 60-40

New York Mills, Minn.—The New York Mills girls basketball team rebounded nicely from the shellacking from Wadena-Deer Creek in the season opener by pounding the Pillager Huskies 60-40 during Tuesday’s Park Region Conference game.

“Tonight was a good game for us,” said New York Mills head coach JJ Weller. “It was a total team effort.”

Three Lady Eagles scored in double figures with Ellie Rutten leading the way with a game-high 19 points, followed by Jenna Esala with 17 and Amber Barvels 10.

New York Mills led 36-13 at the break and outscored the Huskies 24-7 in the second half.

“Offensively, we did a better job running our offenses and looking for openings against Pillager's defense.” Weller added. “We had our heads up and were making passes to who was opening and we took better care of the ball. We also shot the ball better as we set ourselves and crashed the offensive boards harder.”

Rutten was one rebound shy of a double-double with nine boards. Abbe Hendrickx netted eight points, grabbed eight rebounds and collected a team-high three blocks. Bravels came off the bench to score eight of her 10 points in the first half and registered seven boards to go along with three steals. Lacey Guck had a team-high four assists for the Lady Eagles in the victory.

New York Mills shot 39 percent (25 for 64) from the floor while the Huskies went 11 for 46 for 24 percent from the field—including one of 10 attempts from the three-point range. The Lady Eagles forced Pillager into 12 turnovers.

“Defensively, I thought we communicated better and made a better effort to box out and only give Pillager one shot on possessions.” Weller explained. “Our goal was to contest shots and box out and those are things that we will need to do this year to have success. While we played well tonight, we still have things that need work.”

Also contributing for Lady Eagles were Tori Kempenich with two points, two rebounds, one assist and three steals. Kirstin Kane had four points, two boards and three assists.

Carly Bell led Pillager with eight points, with Katelyn Peterson adding five and Sarah Nuerurer four.

“Hopefully we can continue to improve, work hard, and learn as a team so we can be competitive and have continued success this season.” Weller said. “I was happy with the girls' efforts tonight. They deserved this victory.”

New York Mills (1-1) travels to Henning at 7:45 p.m. Friday for a Park Region Conference game.

Pillager at New York Mills on December 6
Lady Eagles 60, Huskies 20
Pillager 13 7—20
NYM 36 24—60
Pillager
Carly Bell 8, Autumn Borders 3, Katelyn Peterson 5, Sarah Nuerurer 4
New York Mills
Tori Kempenich 2, Kristin Kane 4, Jenna Esala 17, Amber Barvels 10, Abbe Hendrickx 8, Ellie Rutten 19