The Ipswich Tigers could not have scripted a better second quarter at the Civic Arena Tuesday night.
The Tigers outscored Aberdeen Christian 21-0 to erase an early deficit and build a commanding lead on the way to a 43-27 Lake Region Conference girls’ basketball victory.
“Our girls came out the second quarter, we made some shots, which has kind of been a struggle for us all year long,” said Ipswich coach Brian Hogie. “To get going like that was a good confidence builder for us.”
Ashlyn Weig sparked the attack with nine second-quarter points, including eight in a row at one stage. The senior made all three of her shots from the field, including a three-point field goal.
“I’ve been going in in the mornings and shooting, and it’s really helped me just get that rhythm,” Weig said. “I had a lot of confidence tonight.”
Meanwhile, the Knights could not get anything going in the pivotal second period.
“We didn’t score and they had 21 points,” said Knights coach Cristian Martinez. “We were pushing the ball, we were forcing bad shots, we were shooting threes and didn’t make them. We didn’t create too many scoring situations.”
From there, Ipswich never lost its double-digit lead, on the way to snapping an 11-game losing streak.
“Our team came out with a lot of energy,” Weig said. “It was super fun to get us all back together and finally going on a scoring streak.”
A big key to the contest was Ipswich’s ability to contain Christian scoring leaders Chloe Holt and Chloe Bosma. While they still managed to lead the Knights, they drew special attention whenever they got the ball.
“We kind of had an idea of who we wanted to take care of: the Holt girl, the Bosma girl,” Hogie said. “When they score Aberdeen Christian can be hard to beat, so we figured if we attacked those two we could have a little success that way.”
Communication played a major role in that defense which allowed just two made baskets in the first half.
“I think we did really good communicating,” Weig said. “In practice, that’s all Hogie has preached is talk, talk, talk, and that really helped us.”
Weig finished with 11 points as did teammate Gabby Wald, and Katie Bierman added 10 points to go along with eight rebounds.
The Tigers have five games remaining, including two more this week.
“I just hope we have the same energy like tonight,” Weig said, “and finish the week out strong and get two more.”
Holt topped the Knights with nine points, Sophia Fogarty had seven points and seven rebounds, and Bosma contributed six points and eight rebounds.
Christian plays at Aberdeen Roncalli Thursday night. Tip-off is set for around 6:30 p.m., followed by a boys’ game.
“That’s going to be hard,” Martinez said, “but we have to get ready.”
IPSWICH (2-13): Baylee Kulesa 3 0-0 6, Katie Bierman 4 0-0 10, Ashlyn Weig 4 2-3 11, Kaylin Onken 0 0-2 0, Gabby Wald 4 0-0 11, Brianna Geditz 1 0-0 2, Rylee Kleffman 1 0-0 3. Totals 17-46 2-5 43.
ABERDEEN CHRISTIAN (1-16): Payton Skarin 2 0-0 5, Chloe Holt 4 0-0 9, Sophia Eichler 0 0-2 0, Sophia Fogarty 3 0-0 7, Chloe Bosma 2 1-6 6. Totals 11-44 1-10 27.
Ipswich 4 25 38 43
Aberdeen Christian 5 5 14 27
3-point field goals – Bierman 2, Weig, Wald 3, Kleffman; Skarin, Holt, Fogarty, Bosma. Total fouls – Ipswich 10 ; Aberdeen Christian 5. Rebounds – Ipswich 35 (Bierman 8, Marley Guthmiller 8); Aberdeen Christian 36 (Bosma 8, Fogarty 7). Turnovers – Ipswich 18; Aberdeen Christian 21.
