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Washington Evening Journal
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Bears bounce back after losing skid
Luers, Frimml each score game-high 15 points
Southeast Iowa Union offers audio versions of articles using Instaread. Some words may be mispronounced.
NORTH ENGLISH — The identity of the English Valleys girls’ basketball team comes on the defensive side of the ball.
After getting down 9-0 — once the Bears were able to make a shot — they could settle into their 1-3-1 full-court pressure.
“It’s tenacious,” said English Valleys coach Chris Montross. “If you speed the other team up, they’re going to make mistakes.”
That “tenacious” defense led the Bears to a 55-38 win over Iowa Valley Tuesday night.
The win ended a four-game losing skid for the Bears.
“It’s a lot better feeling in the locker room than it has been the last few,” Montross said. “We never lost our positivity. We just hadn’t executed our game-plan the last few games.”
Izzy Kriegel and Myla Frimml ignited the Tigers to a 9-0 start, with five and four points each respectively.
Anna Luers broke the Bears scoring drought with three shots at the free-throw line.
The Tigers led 10-8 after one.
Luers scored four straight to start the second for the Bears, and, behind their defensive intensity, the Bears led the rest of the way.
Ava Gehrking also got going for the Bears in the second, and they led 26-17 at the half.
Luers had 11 at intermission, and Izzy Kriegel had eight for the Tigers.
The lead jumped to 32-21 in the third, and the Tigers had one last run in them.
Izzy Kriegel knocked in her third three of the game and cut the lead to 32-29 after a steal.
The Bears responded with a 9-2 run to close out the quarter.
A Clara Fry offensive putback nudged the lead to eight in the middle of the fourth, but the Bears closed the game on a 8-1 run and the victory.
The Bears had near-perfect balance in their top three scorers in the game.
Luers led the way with 15, and Aubrey Achenbach and Gehrking each had 14.
“We got our balance back tonight, which is very important for our team,” said Montross.
The Tigers were led by Frimml’s 15 and Izzy Kriegel had 14.
If the Bears can win their next few South Iowa Cedar League East divisional games, they’ll set up a rematch Jan. 31 for a potential tie atop the division.
Sigourney is 5-0 in the division, while the Bears are 4-1, with the lone loss to Sigourney 46-43 earlier this season.
