Cromwell Girls Outlast Carlton For 49-44 Win

Wes Vork-NSO

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Feb 14

Wes Vork-NSO

In what could be described as an old fashioned throwback style Polar League game, the Carlton Bulldogs squared off against the Cromwell Cardinals. The rough and tumble affair wasn’t a football game, but rather a girls basketball contest with the Cardinals coming out on top by a score of 49-45.

In a fairly unique twist to warm-ups, first year Cromwell Head Coach Terry Sawdey had his team run through a free throw drill. Coach Sawdey must have had a sixth sense of what was to come, with a total of 62 fouls being called in the contest.

The tone of the game was set early in the first half when after a basket and a 2-0 lead for Cromwell, the Bulldogs scored their first four and 8 of their first 14 points from the free throw line. Both teams jockeyed for the lead with Carlton opening up a five point 10-5 lead before the Cardinals worked to tie things up at 14 points apiece. The battle continued with Lindsey Dahl-Holm going the distance of the court for a buzzer beating lay-up to give the Bulldogs a 21-18 lead at the break.

The Lady Bulldogs were able to build and maintain a six point lead for a good part of the second half only to see Cromwell chip away at that lead and tie things up at 35-35. Hard play by both teams created three more ties, the last of which at 44-44. Coach Sawdey’s Free throw drill came in handy at that point,
with
his Cardinals
hitting 5
of 6 from the line to score the final five points and leave town with a 49-44 win.

“It was something my coaches did when I was in high school,” Coach Sawdey said of the pre-game drill to help home free throw skills. Adding, “We’ve been working hard on our free throws for some time.”

Besides the free throw shooting, Coach Sawdey was quick to credit his bench players in a game that had several players in foul trouble for a significant part of the game. “We had people step up big when we needed some minutes.” “In the second half we were able to stay out of foul trouble just enough to keep some starters on the court who twere able to
take
charge and lead the attack. It’s always good to pull out a close one in the end.” Coach Sawdey further explained.

Cromwell was led by Allie Cahoon and Lisa Peterson with 12 points each. Marlene Wester added 9, Emily Hendrickson 8, Makayleigh Cahoon 5, and Kayle Johnson with 3 points.

Lindsey Dahl-Holm led the Bulldog efforts with 18 points. Joining her in double figures was Savannah Schramm with 13 points, including 9-12 form the free throw line. Others scoring for Carlton were Alanna Groth with 7, Brooke Camps 5, and Meny Sandoval with 1 point.

Cromwell shot 30 free throws on the night, hitting on 19 of them while the Bulldogs were 18-32 from the stripe.

With the win the Cardinals are now 9-13 on the season while Carlton falls to 7-13 for the 2010-2011 campaign. Cromwell will be back in action on Thursday when they travel to Moose Lake to take on the Rebels in another Polar League battle. Carlton will be on the road on Thursday also when the travel to McGregor to face the Mercs.

Wes Vork can be reached at wes@northlandsportsonline.com