PR-F-L ends four-game drought
Just before the half, Aggie senior forward Sadie Vold was taken to the training room suffering from a turned ankle. Her return in the second half played an important role in ending a four game losing streak for the Park River Fordville-Lankin girls basketball team as the Aggies defeated the Larimore Polar Bears 56-47 Monday in Park River.
Vold’s three-pointer with 1:50 to play ended a late Polar Bear rally and all but sealed the win for the Aggies. Vold, who was scoreless in the first half, came on to score seven big points at opportune times for the Aggies as they rolled to their seventh win in eleven games. “As I was shooting I think I heard coach saying don’t shoot, but it was already on the way,” Vold said.
The shot was spot on and was the final nail in the coffin for the Bears who have now lost five straight after opening the season with six wins.
The Aggies fell behind early. Larimore went up 6-0 as the Aggies struggled to hold onto the ball. In their first 10 possessions the Aggies would give it away seven times as Larimore’s man defense caused troubles.
Brogan Novak and Ashley Fontaine stepped up big from there on, collectively scoring 10 points as they fought back to a 10-10 tie with 1:40 to go. After a basket inside by Larimore’s Rachel Williams gave the Polar Bears the lead once again, an offensive rebound and buzzer beating shot by Katie Bohn tied the game, 12-12 at the end of the first quarter.
The Aggies secured their first lead of the game when Morgan Porter opened the second with a nice turn-around shot inside. Porter then took control of the game, scoring on the next two Aggie possessions pushing the lead to six points at 18-12.
Two big baskets by Hannah Swartz before the end of the half had the Aggies up by ten. Larimore was stifled by the Aggie defense throughout the half but especially in the second quarter as they managed just two points in the quarter against the pesky Aggie defenders.
At the turn the Polar Bears came out like they had started the game. Scoring quickly on their first two possessions, the Bears trimmed the Aggie lead to 24-18. But a Whitney Carlson layup off a nice pass from Fontaine on a 2-on-1 break ended the short run.
Novak then scored back-to-back buckets inside to get the Aggies back on top 31-18.
It was then Vold started her scoring run, nailing a 17-footer from the baseline that gave the Aggies their biggest lead of the game at 35-18.
Larimore got as close as six points in the final minute before Porter hit two free throws and a late steal and basket by Fontaine with :40 seconds remaining put the game on ice.
Novak led the Aggies with 15 points, followed by Porter with 10 and Ashley Fontaine with nine. Whitney Carlson added eight for PR-F-L, followed by Vold with seven, Claire Welch with three and Katie Bohn and Hannah Swartz with two points each.