Charger Girls Lose Close One at Van Meter, 46-44

If we were to eliminate free throws from last Tuesday's ACGC versus Van Meter girls' basketball game, the Chargers win by a score of 42-37. The Chargers outscored the Bulldogs 42-37 from the floor, but the Bulldogs made nine free throws to just two for the Chargers. The result was a 46-44 win for Van Meter on its home floor.

The first half was nip and tuck with quarter scores of 12-10 and 22-21--both slim Charger leads. When Chaney Coppinger nailed her fourth three pointer to give the Bulldogs a 24-22 lead early in the third quarter, it sparked a 17-5 Van Meter run that seemingly put the game out of reach for ACGC. At quarter's end Van Meter had an eight point lead at 41-33 after scoring twenty points in the quarter.

The Chargers rallied to start the final frame when Mercedes Richter and Saige O'Brien each knocked down three balls to close the deficit to two points at 41-39. Five consecutive points by Van Meter gave it a seven point lead with four and a half minutes to play.

That was the final scoring by the home team, as the Bulldogs failed to connect on five consecutive possessions and also missed two tries from the charity line, opening the door for the Chargers. A single free throw by O'Brien, and baskets by Hayden Coffman and Sophie Dorsey closed the gap to 46-44, but time an out on the rally and the Chargers came up short in the hard fought contest. The loss was then tenth consecutive for the Chargers at the hands of the Bulldogs, dating back to the first ACGC vs. Van Meter contest in 2016.

Richter led ACGC with 11 points--the only Charger in double figures. She also grabbed 10 rebounds to score a double for the game. The rest of the ACGC scoring was balanced with O'Brien scoring 9 points, Reagan Carney and Alaina Bunde each netting 7, and Kelsey Carlson coming up with 6. Coppinger led Van Meter with 20 points that included six three pointers.

As a team the Chargers shot 31% from the floor, connecting on 17 of 55 attempts and made 2 of 5 free throws. Over half of their field goal attempts were from beyond the arc, as they successful on 8 of 31 tries.

Despite the loss, Charger coach Brad Baudler saw some good things from his team. "We showed a lot of fight by coming back twice after getting down early and in the third quarter. We had our opportunities at the end and just didn't capitalize. I'm happy with our improvements and we will continue to get better."

Score by quarter:

ACGC 12 10 11 11--44

VM 10 11 20 5--46

ACGC statistics: (TP-REB-ASTS-STLS) TCarlson(0-1-2-0) Dorsey(2-3-1-1) Carney(7-2-2-0) Bunde(7-6-0-0) Richter(11-10-3-2) KCarlson(6-0-0-0) Lemke(0-3-1-0) Coffman (2-1-1-0) O'Brien(9-7-1-1)