Furious is a good word in describing the intensity level in both of the basketball games played by the ACGC Chargers last night. The girls waited until the second half to demonstrate their intensity, as they came back from a four point halftime deficit to win in a rout over Ogden, 59-38, in the opening home game of the season.

The Charger boys, on the other had, were involved in a furious defensive struggle with the Bulldogs from start to finish in what ended as a heart breaking one point loss for the Chargers, 49-48. Both teams went after each other on defense with Ogden using a 1-3-1 half court trap and ACGC employing a sticky man to man defense.

Both boys teams had trouble finding the basket in the first quarter as the Chargers made just three of ten field goal attempts and the Bulldogs hit one of nine tries and a free throw to make the score 6-3. The teams fought to a draw in the second quarter with each team scoring fifteen points to make the score 21-18 at the halftime break in favor of the home team. ACGC improved on its second quarter shooting, as the team went 50% from the floor on five of ten makes that included three pointers by Bryce Littler, Miles Kading, and Quynton Younker.

The third stanza found the Chargers increasing its lead to 38-32. The Chargers continued to rely on the three ball in the third quarter with thirteen attempted treys out of the sixteen shots taken. Four of the long distance shots found the bottom of the net.

As if the game didn't have enough intensity already, both teams picked it up in the final frame. The Bulldogs shooting improved in the last eight minutes as they connected on six of nine shots. The Chargers', on the other hand, managed just two baskets out of seven tries including zero of four from beyond the arc.

Ogden took its first lead since early in the first quarter when Griffin Diggs scored on a three point play to put the Bulldogs up, 45-42, with 3:09 left in the game. ACGC never led again, but did manage to tie the score at 48-48 when Littler converted on two free throws with twenty seconds to go. Ogden converted on one of two free throws with eight seconds showing on the on the clock to give the Bulldogs a 49-48 lead. One final chance for the Chargers. A controversial over and back call that went in favor of ACGC gave the Chargers the ball at mid court with :03.4 remaining. A desperation shot by Littler at the horn went awry and the Bulldogs came away with the prize.

For those of you who are superstitious--it was Friday the 13th!! Despite the loss, the Chargers continue to be a very competitive team and showed the intensity necessary to successfully compete in the WCAC. Litter led the individual scoring with nineteen points for the Chargers, while "Q" Younker scored a double double with ten points and twelve rebounds. Lucas Marsh led the team in assists with four. The team shot 37% on its field goal tries, making sixteen of forty three. That included seven three pointers out of twenty nine tries. The Chargers hit nine of fourteen attempts at the charity strip for 64%. Seventeen ACGC turnovers resulted in eleven Ogden points.

Meanwhile, the ACGC girls waited until the second half before they turned up the heat to put away the Ogden girls. Five makes out of nine treys kept the Chargers in the game in the first half. After grabbing a 14-8 lead after one quarter, the Charger guns went silent netting only eight points in the second quarter on just six shot attempts. Two treys by freshman Saige O'Brien kept the Chargers close, as Ogden put together an eighteen point quarter to go into halftime with a 26-22 lead.

Whatever Charger mentor Brad Baudler said at halftime seemed to work, as ACGC put together a thirty seven point second half that included a twenty one point third quarter. The Chargers hit on 48% of their shots in the second half. But it was on the defensive side where ACGC really picked up the intensity, holding the Bulldogs to just twelve second half points. Ogden senior forward Gabby Ross netted eight points in the first half, but was held to just four points after the halftime break.

Five different Chargers scored in the third quarter, with Kennedy Young leading the way with ten points. She hit on four of five shots that included two three pointers. The team connected on eight of fifteen shots in the quarter.

With a 43-38 lead heading into the final eight minutes, the Chargers held Ogden to just four points in the final stanza and put sixteen of there own on the board to claim the 59-38 victory. The elder Young (seems like a contradiction in terms) completed her monster game by adding six more points to her total and finished with twenty two points for the game--a career high. She converted on all three of her three ball attempts, and tied Alaina Bunde for the team lead in rebounds with nine. Bunde also hit double figures in scoring with ten points. Kendra Campbell came up just short of double figures as she scored nine points. Kylie Young led in assists with seven and in steals with four.

As a team the Chargers shot a respectable 44% from the field that included seven makes out of sixteen three point attempts. The team hauled down thirty nine rebounds that included eleven of the offensive variety. Eleven assists led to twenty five points. Both teams had trouble with turnovers, as ACGC turned the ball over twenty four times and Ogden was just one short of that.

Baudler had good things to say about his team's performance after the game. "I thought we played three solid quarters. We came out at halftime with a big push and put the game away in the third quarter. Out rebounding Ogden by fifteen was huge and so was adjusting to the different presses and defenses that Ogden used. We played great help defense and knew who we needed to stop. The girls have a high IQ for the game and continue to impress me. We are ready for the next one."

The win for the girls evens their overall record to 2-2 and 2-1 in the WCAC. The loss for the boys gives them a season record of 0-3 with all three games being in conference play. Next week will be a busy one, as the Chargers face three opponents--all on the Charger home court. On Tuesday Earlham will come to town, with Glidden-Ralston and Panorama scheduled for Thursday and Friday respectively. The girls will play at 6 PM with the boys to follow.

Girls' score by quarter: Boys' score by quarter:

Ogden 8 18 8 4--38 Ogden 3 15 14 17--49

ACGC 14 8 21 16--59 ACGC 6 15 17 10--48

REB REB

FG 3Pt FT O-D A STL TP FG 3Pt FT O-D A STL TP

Campbell 3-9 1-5 2-3 0-3 2 1 9 EKading 2-5 1-3 2-2 1-7 2 0 7

Dorsey 1-4 1-2 0-0 0-0 0 0 3 BMarsh 1-3 0-2 0-1 0-1 0 0 2

Van Meter 0-1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 Crawford 1-3 0-1 0-0 0-1 1 0 2

Hoover 0-1 0-0 0-2 0-1 0 0 0 LMarsh 1-6 1-5 0-0 1-5 4 0 3

KyYoung 3-9 0-2 0-0 5-3 7 4 6 MKading 2-8 1-7 0-1 0-3 2 2 5

McClain 1-3 0-1 1-2 0-4 2 2 3 BroLittler 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0

Wheatley 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 BryLittler 7-12 3-6 2-2 0-4 1 1 19

Bunde 4-8 0-0 2-3 1-8 0 1 10 Younker 2-6 1-5 5-8 1-11 2 0 10

O'Brien 2-3 2-3 0-0 0-0 0 2 6

KeYoung 7-10 3-3 5-5 4-5 0 2 22