WEBSTER – Aberdeen Roncalli is now officially more than a third of the way through it’s girls’ basketball schedule and the 10th-rated Cavaliers are showing no signs of slowing down.
Roncalli jumped off to a lead, once again played solid defense, and improved to 6-1 on the campaign with a 50-36 Northeast Conference win over Webster Monday night.
“I thought we put a lot of pressure on their guards in the first half,” said Roncalli coach Derek Larson.
The Cavaliers pushed a 12-point lead to 22 in the third quarter, before the margin went the other way with the Bearcats eventually clawing to within 11 in the final period.
“I thought we played overall pretty well until we got to the two-minute mark of the third quarter,” Larson said. “I thought we played well enough defensively, but we just didn’t convert on the offensive end. We played well enough defensively to get stops. I thought we shared the ball really well.”
However, instead of pushing the margin to the point of a running clock, the Cavaliers struggled to finish off shots and Webster battled back to make things interesting.
“We got to learn to get to that point, though,” Larson said of extending leads. “Right now, we have a bunch of kids that haven’t played at that level. We need to get them to that level to finish games and finish quarters. When you have teams down, just don’t let off the gas.”
The Bearcats meanwhile, kept chipping away at the double-digit deficit.
“They shot the ball well,” Larson said, specifically mentioning the second-half shooting of Georgia Vergeldt and Ryan Johnson. “Give them credit they didn’t give up.”
Karsyn Davis led Roncalli with 10 points, Gabby Thomas followed with nine, while Rylee Voeller and Olivia Dix each contributed eight.
Larson also pointed out the play of Thomas on defense.
“Gabby Thomas got her hands on so many basketballs tonight,” Larson said. “I don’t know how many deflections she had, but it felt like it had to have been over 20. Defensively, I thought she played a pretty good game.”
Vergeldt led all scorers with 11 for Webster. Chloe Mammenga, Bailee Ninke and Johnson each finished with seven.
Roncalli is off until facing Sisseton on Jan. 9. Larson is looking forward to the break to get in some quality practices.
“We just need to have time to practice and time to get better, and we haven’t had that time, yet,” Larson said. “That’s really what I’m looking forward to.”
With a busy schedule to start the season, the Cavaliers have been in game-mode for the past few weeks.
“We need to now just get back to practicing and be able to get better as a team. We’ve had so many one-day preps for teams,” Larson said. “That’s all our focus has been on, and now it’s got to be on getting better for the rest of the season.”
ABERDEEN RONCALLI (6-1): Gabby Thomas 3 3-4 9, Morgan Helms 1 0-0 2, Claire Crawford 1 3-4 5, Karsyn Davis 5 0-0 10, Rylee Voeller 4 0-0 8, Kadince Glynn 1 0-0 2, Elyana Roach 2 0-0 4, Olivia Dix 3 2-2 8, Grace Cogley 1 0-0 2. Totals 21 8-10 50.
WEBSTER (1-3): Chloe Mammenga 2 2-2 7, Georgia Vergeldt 4 0-0 11, Bailee Ninke 3 1-2 7, Ryan Johnson 2 2-2 7, Karli Sannes 0 2-4 2, Courtney Hanson 1 0-0 2. Totals 12 7-10 36.
Aberdeen Roncalli 16 27 42 50
Webster 8 15 27 36
3-point field goals – Mammenga, Vergeldt 3, Johnson. Total fouls – Aberdeen Roncalli 9; Webster 11.
