A slow start killed Cromwell's chance of picking up a win over Cotton in girls basketball on Monday night. Cotton took a 12-point halftime advantage and then held off Cromwell during the second half just long enough to pick up the win.
Cotton gained a 34-22 halftime lead through the efforts of a trio of players: Trisha Frye, Brynne Tracy and Amanda Chapman, who finished with 14, 13 and 11 points, respectively.
Cromwell mounted a strong comeback in the second half and outscored Cotton by a 32-26 margin, but the damage had already been too great to overcome in the first half.
Ari Korpela had a big night with 17 points for Cromwell, it was 12 points for Alissa Granholm, Heather Heino finished with 10, Tanya House had six, Raeann Odegaard scored five and Ashley Collman recorded a point.
- Last Thursday the Cardinals fell 47-41 to the Cook County Vikings despite another 17-point effort by Korpela.
Cook County led by four at the half and held a slim advantage throughout the second half to pick up the narrow victory.
"Both games against Cotton and Cook County are games we thought we could win," said Cromwell coach Dave Foster. "We trailed by double digits in both and fought back. Before Cook County we like the way we were playing, but these last two games we have been very loose with the ball, averaging 30 turnovers."
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Cromwell had trouble finding a solution defensively against the fleet-footed Rachel Bohnen who knocked down 25 points for the Vikings.
"Ari Korpela has scored a career-high 17 points in back-to-back games," mentioned Foster. "Heather Heino has scored 10 and 12 points in those two games and she has shot 64 percent from the field."
Joining Korpela on the scoreboard were Heather Heino with 12 points and Tanya House and Alissa Granhom with six each.
Pine Journal sports reporter Kerry Rodd can be contacted at: kdrodd@aol.com .
