'Best week' for Alberton girls

Coach Jim Baldwin summed up last week by saying that it was the “best week of basketball for our team.”

The Alberton girls had two games last week and they won both of them by a good margin. They beat Phillipsburg on the road on Friday, 38-45, and then grabbed a win against Victor on Saturday at home, 53-32.

Against Phillipsburg, the girls started out cold and came out of the first quarter, 2-10.

“We couldn’t get much going,” Baldwin said. “But we just started playing better defense and the ball went in the hoop. We were struggling there in the beginning shooting wise, but Dani Hanley got warmed up and we got the ball on the inside a lot more to Jenna Rausch.”

Baldwin said that the important thing is that the team didn’t panic after the first quarter. Instead, they pushed forward and chipped away at Philipsburg. Still down by four at halftime, the girls had to play their best in the third and fourth quarters, which they did.

“We were thrilled with the victory,” Baldwin said. “We felt good afterwards about what we were able to do.”

Rausch scored 18 points to lead the girls and Hanley added 14 points.

Next up was Victor, a game that Baldwin said they had marked on their calendar. The girls played Victor back before Christmas break and shot 10 out of 60 from the field.

“We just couldn’t make anything,” Baldwin recalled. “But we knew we could play them better than what we had showed. And when we played them last week, we came out and put our opponent down.”

Baldwin said that it was the “best game of the year by far.”

“We got the ball to the inside and some of our role players shot good. We had them by thirty points in the middle of the third and cruised to victory,” Baldwin said. “We were real excited.”

This week, the team is playing Seeley at home on Friday night and has Hot Springs on Saturday. The girls will celebrate senior night on Friday. Baldwin said that it will be a tough game against Seeley. He said that they beat Hot Springs earlier in the year, but he knows they will have improved.

Baldwin said that he wants to thank everyone who has been coming out to support both the girls and the boys when they play at home. He said they had great support against Victor.

“We really appreciate it,” Baldwin said.

He hopes that they’ll see a good turnout again this week, especially on Friday when the girls celebrate the four seniors on the team.