Lady Trojans tagged with two home losses

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Posted 1/15/19

MENDOTA – Slow starts have plagued the Mendota Lady Trojans on occasion this season, but they’ve usually recovered in time to pull out a victory. Not the case against a talented Rock Falls team.

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Lady Trojans tagged with two home losses

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MENDOTA – Slow starts have plagued the Mendota Lady Trojans on occasion this season, but they’ve usually recovered in time to pull out a victory. Not the case against a talented Rock Falls team.

A huge first-quarter deficit was too much for the Lady Trojans to handle as Rock Falls held on for a 44-37 win in Big Northern Conference action on Jan. 8 at the MHS gym. Mendota’s record stands at 3-2 in league contests.

Rock Falls scored 22 of the first 26 points of the game and settled for a 22-8 lead after the opening quarter. Molly Buck keyed the Lady Rocket uprising with half of her team’s points. Mendota managed to slice the margin to single digits (30-21) at the break, and trailed by six (36-30) heading to the fourth. The Lady Trojans got as close as three (40-37), but couldn’t complete the comeback.

“We came out extremely slow at both ends and let Rock Falls get out to a big lead,” said Mendota coach John Hansen. “We stormed back to keep it in single digits most of the game. I’m proud of the comeback.”

Amellia Bromenschenkel pumped in 23 points to pace Mendota, while Alex Barrera added six markers and three assists. Phalen Hessenberger and Abby Phalen collected nine and seven rebounds, respectively.

Cold shooting hampered the Lady Trojans as they converted 34 percent of their field goal tries and 31 percent of their free throws.

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Mendota had Hall on the ropes, but couldn’t deliver the knock-out punch as the Lady Devils rallied for a stunning 37-35 victory over the Lady Trojans on Jan. 10 at the MHS gym.

Mendota led by as many as 13 points on two occasions in the third quarter, but it was a play in the final second of the quarter that seemed to turn the game around. With the Lady Trojans leading 31-18, Hall’s Zoe Morris misfired on two free throw attempts, but Tori Bogatitus grabbed the rebound off the second miss and stuck in a put-back basket at the horn to make it 31-20 heading to the fourth.

The Lady Devils seemed to feed off of Bogatitus’s deuce to end the third and they came out a brand new team to start the final frame. Jaclyn Cinotte drained a trey and a regular bucket less than a minute into the quarter to make it 31-25. After two and a half minutes elapsed with no change on the scoreboard, Hall’s Hanah Hart completed a conventional three-point play and Cinotte followed up with a hoop to give the Lady Devils 12 unanswered points and pull them to within one (31-30) with 3:45 to go.

A Bromenschenkel basket at the 3:13 mark became the first points of the fourth quarter for Mendota to make it 33-30. Then the Lady Trojans turned the ball over on their next two offensive possessions and Hall made them pay as Cinotte buried a three to tie the game and Morris drilled another trifecta to give the Lady Devils a 36-33 lead with 47 seconds left.

Bromenschenkel netted a pair of free throws to make it 36-35 with 29 ticks on the clock, and Hall misfired on three of four free throws and committed an offensive foul in the final 22 seconds to give Mendota a chance, but Bromenschenkel’s three-point shot was off the mark at the buzzer.

“We had a nice lead into the fourth and then for some reason we went into panic mode,” said Hansen. “We turned the ball over on four straight possessions and (Hall) capitalized. This was a tough one to swallow, but we’ll bounce back. We have to.”

Bromenschenkel’s 20 points and four steals topped the Lady Trojans, while Hessenberger led with six rebounds.

Mendota (14-6) connected on 36 percent of its field goal tries, 80 percent of its free throws and had 18 rebounds.