Spartans shoot past Lady Jays

(Sentinel photo by Bethany Kroeze) Gehlen's Becca Swalve drives to the hoop for two points during Tuesday's loss to Spalding Catholic. [Click to enlarge]

The Lady Jays were hungry for revenge as Spalding Catholic visited Gehlen Catholic on Tuesday evening.

The first five and a half minutes of Tuesday's matchup attested to the Lady Jays' desire to bounce back from a 35-31 CYO championship loss to the Spartans which saw Gehlen struggle with an ice-cold 11-for-66 shooting percentage.

"Things were looking good, we were making shots," said Gehlen coach Marty Kurth, whose team took a 7-0 lead in the contest, which Gehlen lost 44-42. "You always look good when you put the ball in the hole."

But Gehlen's 11-5 first quarter lead did not last long as the Spartans hit a pair of treys to start the second quarter and knot the score at 11-11.

The Spartans hit four 3-pointers in the second quarter to take a 24-22 lead at the halftime break.

"Spalding did to us what they did against us down at the CYO and it was very effective," Kurth said. "We couldn't figure out what to do and what to run."

Similar to the CYO championship contest, the Lady Jays' shooting percentage dropped off after the first quarter and Gehlen ended up shooting just 25 percent in the loss.

"We just went ice cold," Kurth said. "We couldn't make a shot. You always look bad when you don't shoot - and we didn't shoot."

But the problem for Gehlen wasn't missing shots.

"We were hesitant," Kurth said. "Instead of just stepping up and shooting it, we did not play very good basketball.

"We just got very tentative. We didn't run through the offense far enough to get a better look. We just settled once again and didn't make shots."

Steph Rohe, who scored a team-high 14 points in the loss, chipped in a basket to start the second half and tie the score at 24-24. But Spalding hit back-to-back shots to go ahead 28-24. By the end of the third, the Lady Jays had a 34-31 lead.

But a 3-pointer less than 30 seconds into the final frame tied the score again and it was a see-saw battle the rest of the way.

Gehlen had a 42-41 lead with less than 30 seconds to go when Amy Stoll, who scored 17 points in the win, knocked down another 3-pointer to give Spalding a 44-42 advantage and the eventual win.

"Give Spalding a lot of credit - they took us out of our game," Kurth said. "We were in our game early but we couldn't get back into the flow."

The Spartans netted seven 3-point baskets in the game - and just eight 2-point field goals.

"Obviously they got hot there in the first half," Kurth said of the 3-point shooting.

Jenn Hansen scored 15 points for Spalding.

Jessie Timmins scored 10 points for Gehlen in the loss and Rohe added 11 rebounds to her 14 points for a double-double.

The Lady Jays (10-6) host Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn in War Eagle Conference action Thursday.