Tigers open season with BOLD win at home

The Morris Area/ Chokio-Alberta girls' basketball team opened the 2008-09 season with a West Central Conference South win over the BOLD Warriors.

"The Tigers had a slow start - in fact not scoring for the first five minutes of the game," said coach Ken Gagner. "Fortunately for the Tigers they only trailed 0-3. The kids were working hard, but were certainly experiencing some opening night jitters.

"Once we got into the flow of the game things went very well for us," added Gagner.

"Mary Rentz was a spark in the early part of the game, scoring 11 first-half points," said Gagner.

In the end, Rentz led the Tigers with a game-high 20 points.

"I really liked the fact that we had five players score in double figures. We have not had that happen in several years," added Gagner.

Also scoring in double digits were Megan Dierks with 12 and Nicole Gillespie, Jenna Nelson, and Heather Gagner with 10 apiece.

"For an opening night contest I was overall pleased with the effort," said Gagner. "We still have a lot of work to do, but it was a nice win on the home court."

Others in the scoring column were Stefanie Strobel with six, Alissa Melberg with five, and Kelsey Amundson with one free-throw.

Dierks led the Tigers with five offensive rebounds and three defensive boards. Both Gagner and Melberg had seven boards apiece.

Nelson had nine assists to lead the Tigers in that category.

Gillespie had four steals.

Overall the Tigers were shooting at 46.03 percent from the field.

At the free-throw line the Tigers were 60 percent, led by Gillespie who was 4-for-4.

The Tigers hit four 3-pointers, two by Nelson and one each by Rentz and Strobel.