NEW GLARUS — The Dec. 3 home opener for the Glarner Knights was a mixed bag of frustration and excitement. And it came down to the final shot.
With the score tied at 58, New Glarus coach Kim Burton called a timeout with 41.6 seconds remaining. Her team had trailed by 13 in the second half, but rallied to hold a bucket lead a minute earlier.
Her guidance in the huddle was to drain the clock and let her playmaking all-conference guard Jaylynn Benson make a play to win the game.
Everything went according to plan until Benson was double-teamed in the post and turned the ball over with a bad pass with just under 12 seconds to play. Poynette’s Megan Reddeman drained a shot from down low at the other end of the court as time expired, giving the visiting Pumas the 60-58 win.
“I got double teamed; the open girl didn’t flash; I got flustered,” Benson said. “It was a spur of the moment decision that wasn’t good.”
Poynette had wrung off an 18-4 run over the final 7:33 of the first half to lead 34-25 at halftime. The Pumas had switched to a full court press defense and the Knights made a lot of poor decisions that could be expected early on in a season. New Glarus also got into some foul trouble, which pushed Burton to go deeper into her bench.
We’ve got to learn to play better defense and move our feet so we’re not getting ourselves into foul trouble — that’s been a problem for us the last two games.New Glarus coach Kim Burton
“We have to do a better job of moving our feet, and we have to get some of our younger girls playing up to the varsity level so they can give some of the older girls a break, too,” Burton said. “We’ve got to learn to play better defense and move our feet so we’re not getting ourselves into foul trouble — that’s been a problem for us the last two games.”
In the second half the Pumas held New Glarus at bay early on and reached their largest lead of the game (13) at 46-33 with 10:53 left on a Grace Berner layup. The Knights rallied, but not all at once. Instead, New Glarus had to claw its way back almost one point at a time.
Dylan Noll hit a pair of free throws, then Benson scored five straight points to bring the deficit back to seven just 90 seconds after Poynette’s advantage had reached 13. Jessica Bruchs hit a 3 for the Pumas to make it double-digit game again with 8:40 to play. A 9-2 run over the course of the next four minutes brought the Knights to within three at 51-48. Noll and Benson led the way, with Ellie Eichelkraut scoring on a drive to the hoop.
“We can’t let down at any point in the game. Every possession counts,” Benson said.
Poynette countered with a short 5-2 run to make it a 6-point game with just over 3 minutes to play, but Shealynn Klosterman-Havens had a big bucket under the rim off a pass from Benson, who added a coast-to-coast layup with 2:42 to bring the deficit to two. Noll then scored on a missed Benson free throw to tie the game, and Brooke Watrud hit a pair of free throws with 1:54 left to give the Knights a 58-56 lead. Poynette tied it with a minute left in regulation.
“I was very proud of the way we were able to rally back. We had some different people hit some shots — Brook hit a shot, and Shea hit a jumper too. We need some other people to step up besides Jaylynn and knock some shots down,” Burton said.
Benson finished with 18 points in the game, with nine coming in each half. Noll had 11, while Lily Himmelmann finished with 12. Eichelkraut and Watrud each finished with six. New Glarus hit just one 3-pointer in the game — the first bucket of the game off the hands of Benson. The Knights were also just 11 of 21 from the free throw line in the contest, including a rough 4 for 11 mark in the first half.
We can’t let down at any point in the game. Every possession counts.New Glarus junior Jaylynn Benson
“The bottom line is you lost by two points. We missed so many box outs when they were shooting free throws, and that just can’t happen at the varsity level. We shot poorly from the free throw line, too. You fix a couple of those things and you’re on the other side,” Burton said.
Reddeman led Poynette with 18 points, 14 of which came in the second half. The Pumas hit six 3s and were 10 of 25 from the line — a final mark that was drastically different from a 9 for 14 effort in the first half.
“It’s all about the little things — boxing out; making good, strong passes; we had a couple of lazy turnovers; and finishing our shots inside and our free throws,” Burton said. “We’ll see how we can bounce back.”
The Knights have a slew of nonconference games in the coming weeks and don’t begin Capitol South play until a Jan. 9 tilt at Wisconsin Heights.
