BY HERMAN LENSING
Staff Writer
The Holdingford girls didn't get untracked until the second half and fell 62-47 to Melrose Thursday, March 1 in the Section 6AA-West playoffs.
The loss ended the Husker girls' season with a 13-14 mark. It was a season with some exciting minutes and usually saw Holdingford playig with its opponents.
"The girls worked super hard. I can't question or fault them for that," said head coach Aaron Bring. "They always worked super hard."
But their efforts were not enough at Melrose. Holdingford couldn't establish a rhythm in its offensive game, turned teh ball over too often, and were down 19-4 halfway through the first half.
"I expected it (the game) to be closer, but we didn't execute," said Bring. "I don't know if it was playoff jitters, but it (not executing) was apparent. We got in a hole and couldn't get out of it."
The Huskers did come back a bit. Rachel Hellmann who finished with 25 points was seldom stopped as she drove to the basket or dropped in three pointers. She was five-for-five from the free throw line. Actually the Huskers did well on free throw hitting nine-of-11 attempts.
In the second half Grace Gerads, Kennedi Ehresmann and Courtney Thielen also found the basket and at one point cut the Melrose lead to eight points. They go no closer. Melrose rebuilt to an 18-point lead with 4:30 left, and the Huskers never really threatened after that.
Melrose 62, Holdingford 47
Holdingford 15 32-47
Melrose 33 29-62
Holdingford: Rachel Hellmann-25, Grace Gerads-7, Courtney Thielen-4, Paige Soltis-3, Marissa Gerads-2, Jordyn Patrick-2. Holdingford 18 9-11 47, Melrose 21 20-30 62.
3PG: Hellmann-2.
Also played: Taylor Popp, Callie Kostreba, Carolynn Becker.