The Heron Lake-Okabena/Fulda Coyote girls opened the new high school basketball season by playing a pair of games at the Wabasso Tipoff Classic tournament last weekend in Wabasso.
HL-O/F played Clinton-Graceville-Beardsley on Friday (November 22) and the host Wabasso Rabbits on Saturday (November 23). The Coyotes competed well for spurts of each game, but lost both contests to start the year 0-2.
C-G-B built a 30-7 halftime lead and claimed a 47-26 victory, while Wabasso pulled away from the Coyotes to earn a 70-43 victory.
HL-O/F, though, had first-half leads of 9-6, 16-10 and 25-21 against Wabasso before the Rabbits went on a 22-2 burst to take a 43-27 halftime lead.
“We had some positive moments in both games and it was nice to get the season started,” HL-O/F head coach Andy Oakland said. “We struggled to hit many shots against C-G-B, but we didn’t let that affect us at all in the next game. I told the girls that our shots were going to go in against Wabasso and that is what happened.”
C-G-B jumped out to a quick 13-0 lead Friday and led 30-7 at halftime. The second half was evenly-played, with HL-O/F outscoring C-G-B 19-17 to create the final score of 47-26.
“C-G-B’s ability to tip passes for steals and get out in transition for baskets really hurt us to start the game,” Oakland said. “We were able to get several good looks offensively, but we were not able to knock down many shots in the first half. The second half was much better, as we moved the ball quicker from side to side and were able to string together a couple of good possessions in a row.”
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