The Pine City girls basketball team was in Mora Tuesday night to open the season.
The Dragons come into the season with some lofty goals and a player returning off injury in Sophie Lahti. But they needed to get past their rival Mora first. The game had a little bit of a sluggish start for both teams. Although the Dragons defense certainly made life hard for the Mustangs early on. There was a stretch of time where Mora couldn't escape the backcourt because the Pine City defense pressure was too much. But after that stretch both teams picked up the pace and the scoring. Midway through the first half the Mora defense had done it's job keeping the Dragons off the board and holding Lahti quiet. But sooner than later she got going as did her teammates. At the end of the 1st half Pine City held a 61-13. They took the ball away from Mora 18 times in the opening half!
Many of the younger players grabbed valuable minutes on the court in the 2nd half for Pine City and played very well. After the first five minutes the starters were pulled and cheered their team on from the bench. The bench players made the most of their time on the court and proved that they were ready for more varsity action. They continued to build on the already large lead while only allowing 19 points by Mora. The Dragons eventually ended the game with a 87-32 victory.
Pine City is 1-0 heading into the Hopkins Classic this Saturday, where they'll play against Sauk Centre.
Scoring
Pine City
Karly Jusczak 31
Sophie Lahti 20
Kloey Lind 14
Mallory Clepper 6
Ella Sell 5
Summer Thieman 4
Brooke Boland and Piper Mettling 3
Vivian Lahti 1
