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Minnaert shines in BGM’s season-opening win
First quarter was all Minnaert; scores team’s first 13 points
Southeast Iowa Union offers audio versions of articles using Instaread. Some words may be mispronounced.
BROOKLYN — Basketball may not be Emersyn Minnaert’s primary sport, but the BGM sophomore showed Friday that she’s more than capable of being a primary scorer for the Bears this season.
In a girls basketball season-opening 47-42 win over GMG, Minnaert scored what is believed to be a career-high 21 points.
“I’m pretty sure it is,” Minnaert said. “I was not expecting that.”
What was even more unexpected for Minnaert was the fact that she scored the Bears’ first 13 points. Yes, you heard that correctly.
“I was like, what is happening?” Minnaert said.
The fast start gave the Bears’ sophomore a lot of confidence, coming off a freshman season averaging 4.6 points per game.
“It felt good, especially since basketball is not my main sport,” Minnaert said. “When I came out shooting good, it gave me a lot of confidence.”
The score was Minnaert 13, GMG 11 after a quarter of play.
The Wolverines put together a strong second quarter on the offensive board to help them take the lead.
Macie Sanders got hot from three-point range, knocking in four shots before halftime.
GMG led 25-20 at halftime and scored the first basket of the third quarter on a putback from Rhianna Murty.
Then BGM took over, starting on the defensive end.
“We changed things up in the third,” BGM coach Andrew Albers said. “Instead of full-court trapping, we just denied and tried to speed them up a bit.”
As BGM cut the deficit, the Bears forced four straight turnovers, which gave them the lead for good at 32-28.
“It was just our determination, our defense and making sure to get out on them,” Minnaert said of third quarter turnaround.
Minnaert had several steals and baskets during that stretch, but her teammates found their stride in the second half as well.
Sadie Klein had nine of 11 total points in the second half. Payton Manatt added five, including a game-tying three to make things square at 28.
“It was good to not just rely on me in the second half,” Minnaert said. It was encouraging to see others step up for the Bears and play some valuable minutes.
“We started to rebound and found out we have a bench we can use,” Albers said. “Some girls really stepped up.”
BGM jumped out to a 46-30 lead a few minutes into the fourth.
Though the finish was not pretty, the Bears held on for the win as GMG closed the game on a 12-1 run.
Sanders led the Wolverines in scoring with 12 points. Grace Mathern added eight.
“GMG is improved from last season,” Albers said. “This was a good game for us. I’m very happy we held on and we had toughness. Hopefully this shows we can win close and have that belief.”
BGM will head into the holiday break next week 1-0 before conference play begins in December.
