Charger Girls' Rally Falls Short, 45-40

"We came out too slow at the beginning and made it hard to play from behind." Those words from ACGC girls' coach Brad Baudler pretty well summarize the Chargers' loss to Van Meter last night on the Charger home court.

The Chargers went only two of ten from the field in the first quarter and found themselves in a 12-5 hole that they were never quite able to climb out of. The second stanza didn't go any better, as the Bulldogs increased their lead to 21-11 by halftime and held the Chargers to 23% shooting for the first half.

It wasn't until the last part of third quarter that the home team showed some life. Down 30-18 with 2:30 to go in the quarter, Alaina Bunde sparked the Chargers with three consecutive baskets that narrowed the deficit to seven at 31-24 by quarter's end.

When the Bulldogs continued to struggle in the early fourth quarter, the Chargers took advantage and narrowed the gap to 35-32, scoring eight consecutive points over a minute and a half. Bunde scored four points during the rally, while Kylie Young and Emma Kaye McClain each came up with two points.

After Van Meter score the next five points to build its lead to eight at 40-32, the Chargers again rallied on a three pointer by Taylor Carlson and a steal and layup by Bunde to get within 40-37. But two consecutive scores by the visitors closed the door on the Chargers and clinched the win for the Bulldogs.

"We showed a lot of guts to come back and almost caught up in the beginning of the fourth quarter when we went on a run," Baudler commented. "If we can play with that kind of fire from the beginning we would put ourselves in a good position."

Unofficial statistics show Bunde leading the Charger scoring, as the sophomore came up with a career high 18 points. She was the only Charger in double figures. Seniors Young and McClain netted 7 and 6 points respectively.

Again unofficially, ACGC connected on 15 of 42 field goal attempts for 36% and shot 72% from the charity stripe on 8 makes out of 11 attempts. The Bulldogs made 17 of 39 field goal tries for 44% and were 50% from the free throw line with 10 of 20 successful tries. Each team made two three pointers. Official Charger team and individual statists will be added when made available.

The loss is third in a row for the Chargers, and drops the season record to 9-7 overall that includes a 7-4 mark in the WCAC.

Score by quarter:

VM 12 9 10 14--45

ACGC 5 6 13 16--40