Double Wins for Chargers BB Teams Versus SWV

It didn't take long for either the Charger girls' or boys' basketball teams to show the Southwest Valley Timberwolves who was boss Saturday when both ACGC teams raced out to big first quarter leads and went on to score convincing wins.

The girls racked up eighteen points before SWV scored its first point with just under two minutes remaining in the initial quarter. An effective full court press led to many Chargers steals and points for the home team which led by a 21-4 margin at the end of the quarter.

Charger junior Alaina Bunde had a big first quarter, as she came up with eight points, while Saige O'Brien came off the bench to hit two treys in the opening frame.

The Chargers ran into foul trouble in the second quarter when Bunde picked up two fouls, with O'Brien and Mercedez Richter both tagged with three. In addition, ACGC's shooting went south in the second quarter with the team making just two out of twelve shot attempts. As a result the Timberwolves were able to close their deficit to eight points at 25-17.

The Chargers rallied at the outset of the third quarter, as they outscored the visitors 13-2 in the first half of the quarter. That increased the lead to 38-19 and ended any threat from SWV. O'Brien added five points to her total during the run and Regan Carney came up with four points.

By game's end Bunde and O'Brien finished in double figures with 15 and 11 points respectively. EmmaKay McClain and first time starter Mercedes Richer each contributed 9 points to the cause and Carney added 7. Bunde also led in rebounding with 7, while McClain dished out 4 assists and had 9 steals--a season high for the Chargers.

The Chargers shot 44% from the field on 20 makes out of 45 tries, with 5 successful treys out of 13 attempts. They made 10 of 18 free throws for a 59% success rte.

ACGC senior veteran Kylie Young was held out of competition after suffering a head injury in the final seconds of the Charger game with Van Meter last Thursday. It was a cautionary move, and Young is expected to be back on the court soon.

"We had a great start to the game with a lot of energy and good looks at the basket. Things got difficult as multiple people got into foul trouble which allowed them to come back," coach Brad Baudler said.

"We picked it up in the third and built a lead and found a way to win despite the foul trouble. We'll take the win, that's for sure."

The boys' game was similar at the outset with the Chargers scoring the first six points of the game and increasing their lead to 16-5 by the end of the initial quarter. The second quarter started slowly for the home team as it failed to score in the first three minutes. As a result the teams played evenly through the quarter with the halftime score being 26-15.

Not much changed after the intermission with the Chargers maintaining leads ranging from eight to twelve points and holding a 39-27 lead at the end of the third stanza. Although there was little doubt as to who was the better team, the Charger performance up to this point can best be described as sluggish.

Then something clicked and the Chargers put together a twenty three point fourth quarter and won going away, 62-38. Miles Kading paced the fourth quarter flurry as he knocked down three trifectas and Brock Littler added a fourth.

Coach Lance Kading's post game comments reflect what the game looked like. "It's always tough to play an afternoon game on a Saturday and our shooting percentage reflected that. But we were able to hold Southwest Valley to an even lower percentage and separate ourselves in other areas. We had a nice edge in points off turnovers and second chance points.

"I thought we did a nice job of rebounding and for the most part we did a good job of speeding up the pace of the game, We also had a nice game at the free throw line."

Eli Kading had a big afternoon for the Chargers, as the senior netted 21 points. Miles Kading and Charlie Crawford also scored in double figures with 15 and 11 points. Lucas Marsh snared 11 rebounds and Miles Kading led in both assists and steals with 5 and 4 respectively.

As a team the Chargers shot 35% from the field on 19 makes out of 54 tries which included 9 makes of 34 three point attempts. The team shot well from the free throw line as it hit 15 of 20 tries for 75%.

The victories for the teams improved the girls' overall record to 11-7, while the boys record now stands at 12-4.

Girls' score by quarter:

SWV 4 13 11 14--42

ACGC 21 4 18 12--55

Individual statistics: (TP-REB-ASTS-STLS) TCarlson (2-1-0-1) Dorsey (2-1-1-3) McClain (9-5-4-9) Bunde (15-7-1-4) Richter (9-4-0-5) Carney (7-1-2-1) O'Brien (11-1-1-0) Buttler (0-2-1-0)

Boys' score by quarter:

SWV 5 10 12 11--38

ACGC 16 10 13 23--62

Individual statistics: EKading (21-7-0-2) BMarsh (4-4-4-1) Crawford

(11-2-0-0) LMarsh (7-11-1-1) MKading (15-6-5-4) Wardyn (0-1-0-0) Rogers (1-2-1-0) Littler

(3-1-2-0) Weinkoetz (0-1-0-0)