Lady Cards Face Two Top 5 Teams

Last week the Soda Springs Lady Cardinals faced a schedule that no team would want to take on.  With match ups against the top 3A team, Malad, and the third place 4A team Bear Lake the Lady Cardinals had a huge challenge to face.

They began by facing the Lady Dragons at home on Friday.  Malad is the consensus number one 3A team in the state in both the coaches and media polls.  The size of the Lady Dragons would make scoring difficult for the Cardinals all night long.  Soda Springs’ Gracie Moldenhauer stepped up big in the first quarter of the game scoring all ten points for the Cardinals and keeping them within striking distance of Malad.  The second quarter of play proved to be more challenging for Soda Springs.  The Lady Cardinals struggled to put points on the board for the majority of the period and watched the Dragons begin to pull away.  A late charge by the Cardinals did cut into the lead but at the halftime break Soda Springs still trailed.  During the third quarter the Lady Cardinals made some critical defensive mistakes that allowed the Dragons to increase their lead.  By early in the fourth quarter the game had begun to slip away from the Cardinals.  Part way through the quarter Coach Gronning went to his bench conceding the game.  The Dragons showed their dominance winning the game by twenty-one points.

The Lady Cardinals had to regroup quickly as the very next day they faced a very tough Bear Lake squad.  The Lady Bears are ranked in the top five of the state polls for 4A.  Bear Lake has a well balanced team with plenty of size and great outside shooting.  As the game began it did not take the Bears long to establish a lead.  Soda Springs gave up ten straight points before they were finally able to crack the scoreboard.  By the end of the first the Lady Cardinals trailed by a large margin.  Bear Lake applied pressure on the ball throughout the night giving the Cardinals very little time to work with on the shot clock.  By halftime the Bear Lake lead had ballooned to twenty-three points.  In the second half of play the Lady Cardinals would get some good looks at the basket but just could not get any shots to fall.  Meanwhile the hot shooting Bears kept pushing their lead so that by the end of the third quarter they had met the criteria for a running clock in the fourth.  Not much changed in the fourth and the Lady Cardinals tough two game stretch came to a close with another substantial loss.

This week the Lady Cardinals will see the opposite end of the spectrum as they face the two bottom teams in the conference.  Soda Springs will play at Aberdeen on Wednesday before facing off with West Side at home on Friday.

Cardinals 10 9 8 6 33

Dragons 12 11 18 13 54

J.Rasmussen 2, C.Gronning 11, A.Goodin 4, G.Moldenhauer 15, E.Wood 1

Cardinals 8 6 7 7 28

Bears 24 13 16 13 66

C.Gronning 5, A.Goodin 6, G.Moldenhauer 6, R.Harris 2, E.Wood 3, M.Kempe 3, J. Parker 3