Kelsey Brady of Malcolm looks for the hoop on a layup attempt Dec. 29.
Jordyn Virus of Malcolm stretches for a rebound against Oakland-Craig Dec. 29 in the championship game of the Malcolm Booster Holiday Tournament.
Malcolm's McKenzie Teten drives around the Oakland-Craig defense Dec. 29.
The Malcolm girls finished second in the Malcolm Booster Holiday Tournament. Team members are, from left: (front row) Jordyn Virus, McKenzie Teten, Kelsey Brady, Brooklyn Minzel and Laura Reiling; and (back row) Jaiden Helms, Ashlynn Sehi, Hadley Teut, Mikayla DeBaets, Jordan Denton, Reagan Wondercheck, Joslyn Small, Kaitlyn Dostal and Jasmine Small.
It was a valiant effort, but, in the end, Dacey Nelson and her Oakland-Craig teammates had too many weapons for the Malcolm girls’ basketball team to overcome. The Class C2 No. 3 ranked Knights came out on top over the Class C1 No. 8 Clippers 48-39 in the Dec. 29 championship game of the Malcolm Boosters’ Winter Tournament.
Nelson, who the previous evening, became her school’s career scoring leader, led her team with 17 points. But those points did not come easily.
“Our goal was to hold her under 18 which would be more than 10 under her season average,” Malcolm head coach Andy Klepper said. “We accomplished that goal, but came up short on the bigger goal of winning the game.”
The task of holding one of the state’s top scorers fell on Malcolm senior McKenzie Teten who played all 32 minutes of the game and spent most of them trying to keep Nelson away from the ball. Teten was successful in holding the Oakland-Craig senior to just two first-half baskets.
“It was hard work,” Teten said. “I felt like all I did was play defense the whole night.”
Teten actually did plenty more than just guard Nelson. She also scored eight points and led her team with six rebounds and three assists.
In the end, it came down to the Knights being able to manufacture points from players not named Nelson while also taking advantage of their size advantage over the Clippers. Jeannina Blahak, a 6-2 sophomore, grabbed a number of offensive rebounds and converted them into eight points while four other Oakland-Craig guards hit from beyond the three-point arc.
“We sold out on stopping Nelson and did as good of job as anyone has this year,” Klepper said. “The problem is her teammates came through and scored a bunch of points.”
Kelsey Brady led the Clippers with 21 points, including 13 points in the first half to help the Clippers go into the halftime break with a four-point lead.
“It was nice to see Kelsey have a good night,” Klepper said. “She’s been struggling a bit to get her shots to fall so hopefully this game builds her confidence.”
The Clippers opened the tournament with an easy 54-18 victory over Wilber-Clatonia. Malcolm scored the first 27 points of the game with Laura Reiling coming off the bench to knock down a pair of three pointers. Reiling finished as the game’s top scorer with 11 points.
“With a few key players on the sideline we need others to step up and be difference makers,” Klepper said. “It was nice to have it come from one of our seniors.”
Teten added 10 points while snatching four steals.
The Clippers (7-2) are back in action Thursday, Jan. 3, when they travel to Palmyra (2-7) before returning home to host Milford (6-3) Friday night.
“Milford is a really tough team with some size,“ Klepper said. “Their style of play and their length could give us fits.
“We need to have a good week of practice and show up ready to play.”
Malcolm will be without their senior scoring leader, Brooklyn Minzel. She is expected to be out at least three more weeks due to a hand injury sustained in the Clippers’ Dec. 20 game against Louisville.
