Lady Cardinals Pick Up Two Conference Wins

Following a three game skid that saw the Soda Springs girls lose to the number one team from 2A, 3A, and 4A, the Lady Cards bounced back with a pair of big wins.  With the end of the season quickly approaching, every conference game is critical for district tournament placement.  Prior to last week’s games the Cardinals held a slight edge over West Side and Wendell for second place in the conference.  Malad currently leads the conference, while Declo and Aberdeen are sitting at the bottom.

Soda Springs began the week traveling to one of the bottom teams in the conference, the Aberdeen Tigers.  The Lady Cardinals had a slow start in this game, and after the first four minutes of play they only led three to one on the scoreboard.  After a few more slow minutes, the Cardinals caught fire from outside the arc, finishing the first quarter with five three point shots.  Abby Goodin had a great start to the second quarter scoring six quick points.  However, after Goodin’s six points the Lady Cardinals would see more struggles on offense.  Soda Springs only managed one more field goal and a single foul shot for the rest of the quarter.  After the break, the Cardinal defense, which had held the Tigers to just seven first half points, had some breakdowns.  In just the first three minutes Aberdeen surpassed their first half scoring.  The Aberdeen defense turned up its intensity, making scoring difficult for the Cardinals.  Fortunately the aggressive Tigers began to rack up fouls, sending the Cardinals to the foul line.  The Lady Cards went eight for eleven in the quarter and were able to maintain a solid lead despite getting outscored in the period.  In the fourth quarter Goodin got rolling again and added seven more points to her game-leading total.  Gracie Moldenhauer also poured in six points and the Cardinals cruised to a twenty point victory.

Following the win over Aberdeen, the Lady Cardinals hosted West Side.  The Lady Cardinals had already defeated the Lady Pirates earlier in the season but a Soda Springs loss in this game would put the two teams in a tie for second place heading into the final weeks of the season.  West Side came out aggressive and in the early going appeared to be the team that wanted it more.  In fact as the first period came to a close the Pirates held a slim one point advantage over the Cardinals.  In the second quarter some clutch shooting as well as another great performance from the charity stripe helped the Lady Cards quickly pass the Pirates on the scoreboard.  A pair of three point shots along with several two point buckets helped Soda Springs obtain a substantial halftime lead.  In the third quarter the Pirates did their best to fight back into the game.  They answered with a pair of threes of their own while outscoring the Cardinals by six in the period.  That would be the closest it would get.  The Lady Cardinals won this crucial game pulling away in the end.

The Lady Cardinals have just one game on the schedule this week.  They travel to Declo on Thursday to face a Hornets team that only has one conference win this season.  The Lady Cardinals should be favored to win the game but can’t overlook them.  With just three games left, one of which is against top ranked Malad, Soda Springs can't afford any
slip ups.

Cardinals 15 9 10 14 48

Tigers 4 3 11 10 28

C.Gronning 10, M.Kempe 3, A.Goodin 16, G.Moldenhauer 12, E.Wood 4, H.Mumford 2

Cardinals 8 21 8 13 50

Pirates 9 5 13 8 35

J.Rasmussen 2, C.Gronning 10, R.Harris 4, M.Kempe 1, A.Goodin 17, G.Molenhauer 12, E.Wood 4