Sports for the week of December 15, 2004

Turnovers hurt Panther boys

Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City beat the Panther boys 62-47. Tuesday, leavinig the team still looking for its first win.

“We are looking ahead to Thursday night at Granite Falls,” said Panther Coach Nat Boyer when asked for a comment on the ACGC game.

The first half of the ACGC game was an old-fashioned defensive struggle. Both teams played aggressive, tight defense with the Panthers employing a zone and the Falcons a full-court pressure defense.

The score was 11-10 in favor of the Falcons at the end of the first period and 22-19 at the half. A pair of three’s helped the Falcons pull away to 45-33 lead at the three quarter mark and the game got a little sloppy as ACGC out-scored T/M/B 40-28 in the second half.

The young Panthers, with three freshmen and one eighth grader getting extensive playing time, acquitted themselves well for most of the game and gave loyal Panther fans hopes for the future.

Tracy/Milroy/Balaton was led by John Knott with 16 points. The Panthers pulled down 34 rebounds to 28 for ACGC, had 5 steals to 14, 4 blocks to 3 and each team had 7 assists. TMB turned the ball over 22 times to only 11 for the visitors.

T/M/B 10 9 14 14 47

ACGC 11 11 23 17 62

T/M/B- McIntire, 0, 2/2,0,2; J.Knott, 7,2/5,4,16; G.Knott,0,0/0,2,0; Nelson, 1, 3/6,3,5; Prairie, 1, 2/2,2,4; Zwaschka,2,0/2,2,4; Heern, 0,2/3,2,2; Warner,0,1/2,0,1; Kirk, 2,3/4,3,7; Radke, 2,1/2,2,6. Totals, 15, 16/28, 20,47.

Poor shooting sinks boys

The Panther boys’ basketball team fell to Renville County West 80-45 at Renville Thursday. The Panthers are now 0-2 for the season and 0-2 in the 212 Conference.

Tracy/Milroy/Balaton was out-scored in every quarter, shooting only 29.41 percent from the field on two point field goals and 0 for 3 on three pointers. The Jaguars hit the nets at the rate of 45.28% on two-pointers and were 5 of 17 from three-point range. TMB was out-rebounded 34 to 26, had only 3 steals to 7 for RCW, 4 assists to 6, 2 blocks to 1 and turned the ball over 16 times to only 12 for the Jaguars. John Knott led the Panther scoring with 11 points and was followed by Gary Knott and Sean Kirk with 7 each.

T/M/B 5 15 13 12 45

RCW 13 25 23 19 80

T/M/B-player, fg, ft, total points; Nelson, 1, 0/0,2; J.Knott, 4, 3/5, 11; Kirk, 2, 3/4,7; Heern, 0, 2/4, 2; McIntire, 2, 0/3, 4; Prairie, 2, 2/4,6; Zwaschka, 2,0/0, 4; Warner, 1, 0/2,2; G.Knott, 1, 5/6,7. totals 15, 15/28, 45.

Defense prevails for girls

The Panther girls’ basketball team defeated Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City at Tracy 47-25 Tuesday. The Panthers are now 4-0 for the season and in the 212 Conference.

“Our pressure defense did what we needed it to do tonight,” said Panther Coach Paul Soupir. “It created turnovers and we were able to convert many of them into points. However we did not take good care of the ball and we need to take better shots.”

The Falcons got on the board first on a two-point field goal. That field goal was the last two pointer the Falcons were able to score until late in the third quarter when TMB led 37-15. All of the other ACGC points had been scored on free throws and three pointers.

Jillian Tholen led the Panther s in offense with 13 points. She was followed by Tessa Nelson with 12

TMB outrebounded the visitors 30-19, and had 18 steals to nine for ACGC. The Panthers forced the Falcons into 27 turnovers.

TMB hosts Yellow Medicine East Friday night.

“YME does many of the same things that we do,” said Soupir. “They are well-coached and we will have to re ready to play.”

T/M/B 7 16 13 11 47

ACGC 5 3 9 8 25

T/M/B-player, fg, ft, f, tp; Schaar, 2,0/0,2,4; Haecherl, 0,0/0,2,0; Nelson, 4, 4/8,2, 12; J. Tholen, 3, 5/6,0,13; Kirk, 1, 2/2, 1,4; Domine, 4, 0/0, 3,8; Miller, 3, 0/0, 1,6; Totals, 17, 11/16, 11, 47.

Girls capture Renville win

The Panther girls’ basketball team beat Renville County West at Renville Friday night 58-49. Tracy/Milroy/Balaton led 14-12 at the end of the first period and 28-23 at the half. The Jaguars out-scored the Panthers 12-10 in the third period but a strong fourth quarter by the Panthers secured the win.

Emily Miller led the Panther offense with 18 points and was followed by Alyssa Kirk with 15 and Ashlee Domine with 13. T/M/B had 21 rebounds (Nelson 7) to 25 for RCW, 10 steals (Domine 4) to 11, 12 assists (Jillian Tholen 5) to 7, 7 blocks (Nelson 5) to 0 and turned the ball over 15 times to 11 for RCW.

T/M/B 14 14 10 20 58

RCW 12 11 12 14 49

T/M/B-Schaar, 2, 2/2,6; Nelson, 1 1/5, 3; J. Tholen, 1, 0/0,3; K. Tholen, 0, 0/2,0; Kirk, 3, 7/8, 15; Domine, 5, 3/4,13; Miller, 4, 10/12,18. Totals 16, 23/33, 58.

Schreier pin vindicates coaching strategy

The Tracy/Milroy/Balaton Panther wrestling team won an exciting match over River Valley 41-30 at Tracy Friday night. The win improved the team’s dual meet record to 5-2 for the season and River Valley’s fell to 2-1.

“We were missing Derek Evans for this meet and had to go with seventh grader Cher Moua at 130 pounds,” said Panther Coach Brian Michelson. “He wrestled very well but I knew the meet could be very close.”

By the time the Panthers’ Paul Carlson got a pin over Derek Krebs at 189 the score stood at 35-24 for the Panthers. There were 2 matches to go and if River Valley could get two pins they would edge the Panthers 36-35. At 215 pounds, River Valley had Bryan Reimers, who reached the top five in the state tournament last year. Sophomore Gabe Salonek was the Cards’ wrestler at heavyweight. Coach Michelson chose to forfeit at 215 and pit Mike Schreier against Solanek at heavyweight.

“We could have lost both matches,” said Michelson. “Reimers is a very physical wrestler, last year he almost broke Mike’s neck and Salonek is only a sophomore. I felt we had our best chance this way.”

Michelson proved to be right. Schreier pinned Salonek and the Panthers won the meet 41-30.

The Panther individual results were:

103—Luke Prairie won, tech fall, Skorbroten.

112—Chia Thao lost, tech fall, Ameden.

119—Cole Cooreman, won, fall :54, Kish.

125—Adam Snyder, won, dec., 5-4, Domier.

130—Sher Moua, lost fall, :47, Deberg.

135— Cody Arnold, won, fall, 1:07, Roiger.

140—Ross Ryan, won, dec., 3-1, Baier.

145—Chad Cooreman, lost, dec., 12-4, Augustin;

152—James Prairie, lost, fall, :38, Krueger.

160–Dan Deiter, lost, dec., 11-9, Krueger.

171—Travis Cambronne, won, fall, 6:20, Nelson.

189—Paul Carlson, won, fall, 1:31, Krebs.

215—forfeit.

Hwt—Mike Schreier, won, fall, :59, Salonek.

The wrestling team’s next home meet will be against Canby Tuesday. The Panthers will be at Minneota in a quadrangular meet this Thursday and at a tournament in Maple River Saturday.