Spencer, Iowa — The Wolfpack and Tigers split a conference doubleheader Tuesday night at the Fieldhouse in Spencer. The Western girls rolled 55-27, while the Western boys saw their comeback fall short 59-57.
In the girls contest, Western held a slim one point advantage after one, 12-11. Heading into the break the Wolfpack created some separation and had a 26-18 lead. After three, Western extended their lead to 35-22, and went on to win 55-27.
Western got a game high sixteen from Olivia Granstra, while Spencer was got a team high nine from Emma Ver Steeg.
Western improves to 8-7 on the year, and 4-4 in the Lakes. Spencer falls to 2-14 on the season and 1-9 in the conference.
The Spencer boys jumped out to a quick 7-0 lead early, but Western battled back and after one it was tied 15-15. Spencer then outscored Western 22-10 in the second quarter and had a 37-22 lead heading into intermission. After three Spencer had a 48-40 lead. In the final eight minutes, Western was able to battle back, but two last second shots wouldn’t fall, and Spencer escaped with the win 59-57.
Spencer had three players in double figures. Michael Storey had a game high fifteen, while Marcus Klemme had twelve, and Gage Garnatz added ten. Western got a game high twelve from Dawson Feenstra and Clay Van Tol put in eleven.
Western falls to 9-4 on the season, and 6-2 in the conference. Spencer improves to 10-5 on the year and 6-4 in the Lakes.
Coach Keizer had this to say about the game, “We dug ourselves a hole right out of the gate and played uphill the rest of the way. There aren’t a lot of teams that can go on the road and turn the ball over 18 times, get to the free throw line 6 times and expect to win. We have to do a better job as a collective unit to maintain our focus and effort in a consistent manner.
Our best chance tonight was to make it a chaotic game where we forced them to play fast and expend a lot of energy on both ends of the floor. We made it a game in the 4th quarter and had a two shots to force overtime.
I need to do a better job of getting this team ready to play right from the start of the game. We will make some adjustments to make sure we are ready to play this weekend.”
Up next for the Wolfpack is a home contest against Estherville-Lincoln Central on Friday. Spencer is on the road on Friday to Spirit Lake.
