Lady Jays storm back in win over Evergreens
Jared Schmeltzer
Reporter
The Merrill girls basketball team wrapped up their regular season on Thursday night, Feb. 20, as they traveled to D.C. Everest.
The Evergreens got the early jump on the Jays and took a commanding lead, however the resilient Bluejays faught back to earn a 54-47 win.
“The first 10 minutes of this game we would like to take back,” said Merrill head coach Joelene Weix. “Everest really came out shooting well and we found ourselves down double digits early. The last 5 minutes of the first half really set the tone for us for the second half. We were able to cut the lead to 7 heading into halftime, which I felt was big for us.”
Everest started the game on a big run that would leave the Jays down by 12 points with just over 10 minutes remaining in the half. Merrill settled in and began to knock down some shots and would cut the Evergreen lead to just seven points headed to the halftime break.
The second half of play saw Merrill get in a groove on both ends of the court and outscore Everest 32-18.
“The second half we were able to really step up on the defensive end and starting clicking offensively,” added coach Weix. “We put together a complete second half on both ends. It was fun to see us close out the game against Everest. Claire Drew did a nice job at the line (5-6) at the end of the game to close out the game.”
Courtney Krueger led the way for the Jays against Everest, scoring 22 points to go with 4 steals, 2 assists and 2 rebounds. Other noteable performances for Merrill inlcude: Claire Drew (12 pts, 3 ast, 3reb); Reese Mrachek (8 pts, 2 ast, 2 reb) and Erin Murray (6 pts, 3 reb, 1 blk).