Nothing came easy for the TMB girls’ basketball team against Russell-Tyler-Ruthton last Friday. Then again, it was their first game of the year, so that’s to be expected.
TMB, on the strength of a late flurry, withstood shaken free throw shooting to outlast the Knights 59-52 in both teams’ season-opener in Tracy.
“Kind of the classic first game — numerous mistakes from both teams, some headscratching things that both teams did at times,” TMB coach Derek Ashbaugh said. “It seemed like momentum was terribly impossible to gather at any point.”
The teams played to a 24-24 halftime tie after TMB had built a 21-16 lead on a three by Melaina Ankrum. Neither team was able to take control, mostly because of mistakes and shaky free throw shooting.
“I love the fact that we were able to get to the free throw line a bunch; that’s one thing that we can point to so we don’t put ourselves in that situation,” Ashbaugh said. “Both sides walked away feeling like they should’ve won. Thankfully for us, we’re the ones who are able to do that.”
The teams were tied at 33, 37 and 39 as the second half wore on, and neither team was able to establish much of a lead. RTR had a 50-44 advantage with 3:43 left, courtesy of a three-point play by Brezlyn Buchert. but backto- back buckets by Gretchen Lanoue and a free throw by Allie Adams put the Panthers up 53-52 with just under 2 minutes to go.
“It was really good the way we came back,” said Lanoue. “We just fought together all the way through the game. No one got selfish, like ‘I’m going to do this by myself.’
Lanoue, reversing a trend that saw the Panthers fail on many attempts from the charity stripe throughout the game, would then connect on three of four free throws to put the Panthers up 56-52 with just :44 remaining.
After RTR missed on its end of the court, Ankrum hit one of two free throws, and Lanoue sealed it with two more, giving her a game-high 28 points.
The Panthers made six of eight free throws in the last minute of the game after having missed 23 of its first 39 from the line (for the game, they shot 46.8% from the line, compared to 57.7% for RTR).
Although TMB was outrebounded 58-43 — RTR had 27 offensive rebounds alone — the Panthers scored seven more second-chance points than the Knights. TMB held RTR to just a 24.7% field goal percentage, but it was the Knights’ prowess on the glass, especailly early, that allowed them to stay in the game.
“Give RTR a ton of credit for just killing us on the offensive glass,” Ashbaugh said. “I thought for three quarters of the game they beat us up down low, but we got enough defensive rebounds when we needed to; that and that little run at the end is what did it for us.”
“The girls just battled; they found a way to rebound well enough and hit enough free throws in the end to get the job done,” Ashbaugh said. “We forced a couple turnovers and got a couple transition baskets and followed those up with possessions where we weren’t in big rushes and finally put a couple of stops together.”
Besides her offense, Lanoue did plenty of work under the basket, pulling in a team-high 10 rebounds to go with her 28 points. Ankrum had 12 points, six points and four steals.
“We have to slow the ball down and keep our pace when we push the ball up the floor,” Lanoue said. “We just have to know when the right time for that is.”
TMB 59, RTR 53 TMB
Lanoue 8-12 11-19 28, Ankrum 4-10 3-7 12, Munson 1-2 0-0 2, Kirk 1-8 4-8 8, Knakmuhs 1-3 0-0 3, Knott 0-1 0-2 0, Adams 2-9-2-9 6, Dolan 0-4 2-2 2. Totals: 17-49 22-24 58. Three-pointers: 3-18 (Lanoue 1-2, Ankrum 1-1, Munson 0-1, Kirk 0-5, Knakmuhs 1-3, Adams 0-4, Dolan 0-2). Rebounds: 43 (Lanoue 10, Adams 7, Ankrum 6, Knott 6, Munson 4, Adams 4, Kirk 2, Knakmuhs 2, Dolan 2). Assists: 9 (Lanoue 3, Knakmuhs 2, Adams 2, Ankrum , Munson ). Steals: 14 (Ankrum 4, Knakmuhs 3, Lanoue 2, Munson 2, Kirk 2, Adams).
Blocks: 3 (Lanoue, Ankrum, Knott). Turnovers: 27. RTR
Thooft 4-10 6-6 15, Buchert 3-16 1-3 7, Karbo 4-9 4-6 12, Christensen 0-7 4-4 4, Hesse 4-12 0-2 9, Christianson 0-0 0-2 0, Guida 2-13 0-1 4, Schoenfeld 1-6 0-2 2. Totals: 18-73 15-26 53. Three-pointers: 2-20. Rebounds: 58. Assists: 8.
Steals: 13. Turnovers: 26.
• Because of this week’s early holiday deadline, results of Tuesday’s game against Wabasso will be published in next week’s edition.
