Once was enough.
The Borgia Lady Knights surrendered one eight-point lead in the first quarter Friday in the third-place game of the Peoples Bank Holiday Classic in Sullivan.
But they didn’t let that happen again in a 51-39 victory over the Owensville Dutchgirls.
“Our third quarter really is what won the game for us,” Borgia Head Coach Stacia Parsell said. “We didn’t allow Owensville to run anything and kept them out of sync.”
Borgia outscored Owensville in the third quarter, 17-2.
Parsell was happy with Borgia’s finish.
“Coming into the tournament with the fourth seed, we were looking to give Sullivan the best game we possibly could and perhaps sneak into the championship round, but we knew that was going to be tough, so coming out with a third-place victory is great,” said Parsell.
Getting 12 first quarter points from junior guard Janie Arand, Borgia held leads of 10-2 and 12-4 in the first quarter. But the Dutchgirls came back to take a 14-12 lead after one quarter.
Jaelyn Gauer scored the tiebreaking basket with 12 seconds to play in the quarter.
“We had a great two minutes of basketball,” Parsell said. “We were impressive in the first two minutes and then we went away from it. We’ve got to be able to put that whole thing together.”
The Lady Knights turned back to Arand, who scored seven points in the second quarter. Senior Katie Lindemann added seven points of her own and senior Morgan Spradling scored two points to give Borgia a 28-23 lead at the intermission.
But the true game changing quarter was the third.
Borgia outscored the Dutchgirls by a 17-2 margin during the third quarter. This time, Arand was the distributor with her sister, sophomore Molly Arand, doing much of the scoring with eight points.
Lindemann scored three while Janie Arand, Emily Grahl and Madison Wehking scored two points apiece.
Owensville freshman Hailey Diestelkamp, who netted 32 points in Owensville’s semifinal loss to Farmington, had Owensville’s lone basket in the quarter.
Janie Arand was Borgia’s scoring leader with 27 points in the game. She scored two three-point baskets and went 5-5 from the free-throw line. She added four rebounds, three assists and three steals.
“Other teams have been hanging onto her to make sure she hasn’t been able to get into a rhythm,” said Parsell. “She made sure that was not going to happen tonight.”
Lindemann was next with 10 points, four rebounds, two assists and two steals.
Molly Arand scored eight points, all in the third quarter, with three rebounds, one assist and one steal.
“We understand that the more Molly plays and the more she understands what we’re looking for, the more comfortable she’s going to be,” said Parsell. “She’s going to be another scorer we’re going to have later on in the season.”
Grahl scored two points with five assists, three steals and one rebound.
Spradling scored two points with two rebounds and a steal.
Also playing for Borgia were Cassandra Halsed (six rebounds and two steals), Baylee Godat (two assists, one rebound, one steal) and Alexis Sine.
“We got some other kids in to see that pressure,” Parsell said. “We’re going to see each other again. It’s a good matchup against Owensville. They are bigger and almost as fast as we are.”
Diestelkamp led Owensville with 18 points, including eight of the team’s 14 in the fourth quarter.
“She is tough,” Parsell said. “She is athletic and is all over the place. Once we could find her, we tried to contain her. That’s all you can do is try to contain her. She is a really good athlete.”
Emily Ellis was next with six points.
Miranda Robertson and Gauer scored four points apiece while Kayla Charboneau netted three. Dayla Gruenloh and Allison Walker ended with two points apiece.
“Owensville has a good program,” Parsell said. “I have a lot of respect for Dwayne Clingman and what he’s been able to do with his athletes. We know it’s going to be a tough matchup any time we see them.”
