Friday: TMB girls come on strong for win; boys trounced by one of Class A’s finest
Ankrum scores 16, Dolan 13 to lead TMB to 58-48 triumph
For most of last Friday’s contest between TMB and YME, it was anyone’s game.
The last 5 minutes belonged to the Panthers. The Panthers were able to build nice leads against the Sting, only to see their foes continuously battle back to within striking distance. However, in the end, TMB was in control and went on to win, 58-48, for its first win since Dec. 22 and give their coach, Derek Ashbaugh a pretty nice 40th birthday present.
“They got it to a two-point game around the 5- 6-minute mark … but the girls were absolutely fantastic, getting loose basketballs; I thought their effort on the defensive glass was huge,” Ashbaugh said. “There were tons of girls doing their job — Taylor (Munson) had one of her best games this season, Gretchen (Lanoue), Lauren (Knakmuhs) was everywhere. We needed it because they were able to hit a lot of shots.” A three by Alli Dolan staked the Panthers to an early 13-5 lead, and another three by Braelynn Kirk put TMB up 18-5 with 9 minutes to go in the first half. But the Sting rallied, as they would all night, with a 13-4 run. YME later cut TMB’s lead to 2623 before another Panther spurt, this one a 14-5 run highlighted by six of Dolan’s 13 points.
But YME wouldn’t fade. The Sting trimmed the Panther lead back down to 46-43 with 4:51 to go, but once again, TMB was able to regain momentum and went on a 12-0 run to ice the game. Melaina Ankrum scored four of her game-high 16 points during that game-deciding stretch.
The Panthers came into the game on a two-game losing streak, but showed a lot of improvement between a 15-point loss to Murray County Central on Jan. 2 and an eightpoint loss to Dawson-Boyd last Thursday.
“To kind of refocus on the things that allowed us to be successful at other times of the year was really important,” Ashbaugh said. “The confidence, I think that was important. And to just get the monkey off our back was really nice.”
TMB outrebounded YME 3625, pulling down 21 offensive rebounds. Ankrum had 13 boards for a double-double, and Lanoue pulled down seven rebounds. Ankrum also dished out seven assists.
The Panther defense made life difficult for the Sting all night, forcing 34 turnovers and limiting YME to just six assists. Ankrum had seven steals, and Munson and Knakmuhs had five and four, respectively.
YME 15 33 — 48 TMB 22 36 — 58 YME
Sneller 3-14 6-10 15, Peterson 1-5 0-0 3, Mortensen 5-12 2-2 2, Paslawski 4-15 0-0 10, Alana lLmich 1-3 0-0 3, Axxxx Almich 1-4 2-2 5. Totals: 15-53 10-14 48. Three-pointers: 8-21. Assists: 6. Rebounds: 25. Steals: 12.
Turnovers: 34 TMB
Lanoue 3-12 1-2 7, Ankrum 5-13 5-8 16, Munson 2-4 0-0 4, Kirk 3-9 1-2 8, Knakmuhs 1-7 1-3 4, Adams 2-11 2-2 6, Dolan 5-8 0-0 13. Totals: 21-64 10-17 58. Three-pointers: 6-21 (Dolan 3-6, Ankrum 1-3, Knakmuhs 1-3, Kirk 1-4, Lanoue 0-1). Assists: 18 (Ankrum 7, Lanoue 4, Kirk 2, Adams 2, Munson, Kankmuhs, Knott). Rebounds: 36 (Ankrum 10, Lanoue 7, Knott 4, Dolan 4, Knakmuhs 4, Munson 3, Kirk 2, Adams 2). Steals: 21 (Ankrum 7, Munson 5, Kankmuhs 4, Adams 2, Lanoue, Kirk, Dolan). Turnovers: 31.
JAN. 9: D-B 70, TMB 62
• The Panthers couldn’t overcome a 12-point halftime deficit in a 70-62 Camden Conference loss to Dawson-Boyd last Thursday.
Gretchen Lanoue had 22 points, 14 rebounds, five assists and three steals; Alli Dolan had 17 points; and Melaina Ankrum scored 12 points to go along with nine rebounds and three steals for TMB, which missed eight of its 11 free throw attempts.
