Wild opening quarter spells defeat for Storm Lake in battle of ranked foes

STORM LAKE - The 10th-ranked Tornado girls got their first big test of the season at home Tuesday night as they took on Class 2A's 3rd ranked team, OA-BCIG. Both squads looked dominant at times, but it was the Falcons big run at the end of the first quarter that gave them a comfortable cushion they would ride to the eventual 59-46 decision.

"I thought we played hard all night, but OABCIG is a strong, well-coached team," said SL head coach Mike Wabeke. "We had just too many turnovers and a few poor shots at costly times, and we just couldn't get over the hump to catch them."

It appeared as if it would be all Storm Lake from the onset as the green and white raced out to an 11-1 lead, but the visitors closed the quarter on a 22-5 run, and the Tornadoes trailed 16-23 after one.

The OABCIG lead would hover around 10 points for the remainder of the game, but nearly every time the Tornadoes whittled the lead back down, a costly turnover ensued, and the precise passing Falcon squad routinely found an open player to bump the deficit right back up.

"Every time we cut the lead to single digits, we would do two or three costly mistakes, and they are really good at making you pay for mistakes," said Wabeke. "I think this was a good game for us and is going to give us a lot of things to work on in practice."

After a slow start in last Friday's opener, Slone Masters bounced back to top form, connecting on four three's en route to a 20-point night. The senior added six rebounds, five steals, and two assists.

Morgan VanDerSloot was 3 of 7 from long range as she finished with nine points, six rebounds, and five assists. Cassie Meylor collected eight of her nine points in the second half to go along with seven rebounds and six blocks, and Katie Blum hit five of six from the foul line to wrap up a nine point, seven rebound night.

Storm Lake shot fairly well on the night as they hit 18-46 (39%) from the field, 10-14 (71%) from the charity stripe, and 7-24 (29%) from long range. However, the Tornadoes committed 27 turnovers and ran into foul issues as Meylor, VanDerSloot, and Jordan Bauer all fouled out.

Meanwhile, the Falcons scorched the net from deep, connecting on 8 of 14 (42%). The team dished out 20 assists, and all five starters wound up in double figures, led by Ashley Zobel, who finished with 15 points, five assists, five steals, and four rebounds.

In an interesting side note, neither squad had a single point come from off the bench.

The Tornadoes (1-1) wrap up their three-game home-stand Tuesday night as they host Cherokee in their Lakes Conference opener.