Top Ranked DMC Too Much for Charger Girls

When the Des Moines Register put out its preseason girls' basketball story, which included the preseason rankings, the Des Moines Christian Lions were ranked at the very top of class 3A. The writer of the story went so far as to say that the Lions were the "class" in 3A. After opening wins over 5A Indianola and 4A Creston, DMC was living up to the lofty expectations. The Lions also crushed 2A opponents Central Decatur and Earlham by better than thirty points.

So, no one should really be surprised that the Lions topped ACGC last night on the Charger hardcourt by a twenty point margin, 61-41. Charger fans can take some solace in that the twenty point margin is the narrowest in the five years of ACGC basketball versus the Lions.

After the Chargers tied the game at two apiece in the early going, the team had six empty offensive possessions over four minutes that enabled the visitors to take an 11-2 lead that became a 16-6 lead by the end of the initial quarter.

By halftime the Lions had increased their lead to 30-16 , largely due to 12 of 23 shooting from the floor for the half. By contrast the Chargers connected on just 4 of its 23 field goal attempts.

After DMC went up by sixteen in the first half of the third stanza, the Chargers showed some life when a free throw by Alaina Bunde and field goals by EmmaKay McClain and Bunde closed the margin to eleven at 39-28 at the two minute mark of the quarter. The Lions responded by hitting three treys and a two to end the quarter with a twenty point plus lead at 50-29 and essentially clinch the win for the visitors.

Charger shooting struggled from the floor, as the team connected on just 12 of 41 attempts for 29%, that included 2 of 12 from beyond the arc. By contrast, the team went 71% from the free throw line on 15 makes in 21 attempts. Although the team committed 22 turnovers, it is an improvement over the 31 turnovers in the season opener.

McClain and Bunde led the Charger scoring with ten points each, while Bunder also led in rebounding with eight. Bunde also led in steals with four, while aylor Carlson and Sophie Dorsey each had two assits.

"I thought we played extremely hard and never gave up," ACGC coach Brad Baudler said following the loss. "Our offense looked good at times, but we need to stay patient, but still be aggressive. We need to feed the post players more, as we missed them a couple of times in the second half.

"Our shooting needs to be better, or it will be hard to beat a team like that," Baudler continued. "If we hadn't come out slow and had shot better, I think its a different game. Very happy with how we played."

The loss leaves the team with a 1-1 season record, with both contests being WCAC games. Next up isa road game at Ogden this Friday. The girls' game is scheduled for 6 PM.

Score by quarter:

DMC 16 14 20 11--61

ACGC 6 10 13 12--41

Individual stats: TP-REB-ASTS-STLS: Carlson (3-0-2-1); Dorsey (6-2-2-0); Young (6-7-0-1); McClain (10-3-1-2); Bunde (10-8-0-4); Carney (2-1-0-0); O'Brien: (0-0-0-0); Richter: (4-0-0-0)