Double Win For ACGC Basketball Over Ogden; Marsh Sets Record

For the second consecutive outing both the ACGC girls' and boys' basketball teams came up with wins. On Thursday the teams defeated Glidden-Ralston and on Friday the double victories were over conference opponent Ogden.

The girls had little trouble in dispensing with the Bulldogs, as they took a ten point lead after the first quarter and never looked back in their 50-21 win. The boys' final score of 75-60 is a bit deceiving, as ACGC led by just five points at 60-55 halfway through the fourth quarter.

Let's take a look at the boys' game first. Ogden came into the game with a 3-1 record for the season, with its only loss being to class 3A Humbolt. They gave the Chargers all they could handle through three and a half quarters. Quarter scores for the first three frames were 19-18 in favor of the Bulldogs after one frame, 35-33 at the half with ACGC leading, and 57-47 after three quarters with the Chargers still in the lead.

In this observer's opinion it was in the middle of the third quarter that the Chargers won the game. With ACGC up by a slim 43-40 margin, the Chargers' Austin Kunkle nailed three consecutive three pointers to increase the lead to 52-40 to take the wind out of the Bulldogs' sails. 'Tis true that Ogden got within five points in the fourth quarter, but Kunkle's third quarter heroics may have made the difference.

Of course it takes more than one player to achieve victory. Ben Marsh had a big night, as the junior guard scored 30 points and grabbed 9 rebounds. Marsh's 30 points establishes a new ACGC school record. The previous record was set by Colton Sargent at 28 during the 2016-17 season. Miles Kading also hit double figures with 15 points and handed out 8 assists.

It was a relatively 'clean' game between two evenly matched teams. The Chargers turned the ball over ten times and the Bulldogs eleven times. ACGC accounted for 18 assists and came up with 12 steals, 6 of which belonged to Littler.

A very pleased Lance Kading had good things to say about his team's performance when he said, "I can't praise this group enough on how well they share the ball. Eighteen assists on twenty three made field goals is outstanding. These guys have really committed themselves to being better defensively this season. It's still a work in progress, but that defensive tenacity makes for some exciting basketball."

The girls' game was the complete opposite of the boys' contest. While the boys' game was very competitive, the girls' game was never really in doubt, as the Chargers took control in the early going over the outmanned Bulldogs. Eight first quarter points by Alaina Bunde and two three pointers by Mercedez Richter put the Chargers on the road to victory. By halftime the lead had swelled to twenty one points, as ACGC was able to limit the Bulldogs to just eight shots and four points in the second stanza.

That trend continued throughout the second half, as Charger coach Brad Baudler substituted liberally throughout the entire half. Every Charger got off at least one shot during the game.

Bunde was the only Charger to score in double figures with 12 points. Richter had 8 points and Saige O'Brien came up with 7. Bunde and O'Brien each had 5 rebounds. O'Brien and Sophie Dorsey each had five steals.

The team's shooting percentage was 33% on 17 makes out of 51 tries. That included just three successful treys out of 18 attempts. ACGC committed 17 turnovers, and managed to force the Bulldogs into 30.

The victories give the girls' a record of 3-2 for the season, while the boys' improved to 2-1.

Boys' score by quarter:

Ogden 19 14 14 13--60

ACGC 18 17 22 20--75

ACGC statistics: (TP-REB-ASTS-STLS) Kunkle(18-3-0-1) Marsh(30-9-2-1) Kading(15-6-8-6) Littler(5-4-4-2) Weinkoetz(2-4-3-2) Bunde(3-1 0-0) PJacobe(2-1-1-0) Chance(0-0-0-0)

Girls' score by quarter:

Ogden 7 4 6 4--21

ACGC 17 15 12 6--50

ACGC statistics: (TP-REB-ASTS-STLS) Dorsey(5-1-2-5) Carney(4-2-2-0) Bunde(12-5-0-3)

O'Brien(7-5-0-5) Richter(8-3-0-3) EVanMeter(0-1-0-1) TCarlson(3-2-1-4) KCarlson(0-0-2-0) Lemke(4-3-1-2) Coffman(5-0-0-5 (Hoover(0-0-0-0) Shreck(0-0-0-0) Buttler(2-1-0-2) PVan Meter

(0-1-0-0)