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Cowgirls headed for state to take on Missoula Loyola |
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Wednesday, 28 February 2007 |
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Page 1 of 5  TROPHY WINNER -- The Conrad Cowgirls placed second at the divisional meet in Malta and will head to Hamilton this weekend for the state tourney. From the left in front is Kelsey Zomer, Savanna Baumann, Sam Fagan, Anna Pearson, Whitney Bliss, Jaci Thayer, Hannah Knobel, Sarah Hohman (mgr.) and Anna Dalman, assistant coach. In the back is Julie Brown, Katie Schlepp, Serena Johnson, Amber Keil, Courtney Ellefsen, Kylee Schlepp, Cassie Peters, Jenny Silvernale, Ashley Beckham, Brittnee Wittmier, Jacklyn VanDyke and Gerry Kulpas, head coach. Not pictured is Beth Grubb, alternate manager. I-O Photo courtesy of Jim and Shauna Ellefsen
Conrad got on the board first, there were no ties or lead changes, when Serena Johnson got a steal and fed Courtney Ellefsen who was fouled on the shot attempt, but packaged both shots from the freebie-line for an early 2-0.
Helped by a lot of Wolves turnovers, the Cowgirls jumped out to a 9-0 lead and with six points from Katie Schlepp and three from Johnson, Conrad led 11-6 at the end of the first fame.
In the second period, Anna Pearson netted a trey, Brown pumped in five, Ellefsen four and Johnson two as the Cowgirls, while struggling a bit, still fashioned a 14-6 advantage for a 25-12 lead at the break.
During the third quarter, the Wolves did not score a point from the field, getting their three points from the line. They were 0-5, 3-4 respectively.
Coach Gerry Kulpas began to bring in his bench players as Conrad led 36-15 going into the final eight minutes.
Sam Fagan, Anna Pearson, Kylee Schlepp, Jenny Silvernale, Cassie Peters and Ashley Beckham all scored in the final frame of play and Conrad moved on to semi-final action on Friday against Shelby.
It was a match-up of two 1B Conference teams and in a close back and forth game, the Cowgirls edged out their rivals, 44-40 in a contest that saw seven ties and four lead changes.
Conrad had the early advantage, 10-7, however, the Coyotes rallied back with a 15-10 run and took a 22-20 lead to the locker room at the break. In the third frame, Conrad rallied back behind a big three bomb from Keil and a long two shot right in front of the buzzer, plus eight markers from Ellefsen and two key free throws from Brown while holding the Coyotes to just six points 5-28 going to the final eight minutes.
Down the stretch Shelby rallied back with 12 points while the Cowgirls hit on just one shot from the floor and got timely free throws from Johnson and Ellefsen. The two teams were all knotted at 40-40 with three minutes to play, but from that point to the buzzer in regulation, neither team could score.
Shelby had the lost shot opportunity but missed and Ellefsen took down the rebound and the game went into overtime.
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