Tiger girls stopped by Faulkton Area Trojans

Ipswich sustained a 54-27 girls' varsity setback to Faulkton on January 20. It was indeed a Lake Region Conference verdict.

The game was tied at 2-2 with a Quincy Olivier layup to get Ipswich in the scorebook and also tied at 5-5 and 7-7 a little later in the opening quarter. But Faulkton closed out that quarter with seven straight points, capped by a buzzer-beater inside the trey arc. They then opened the second quarter with a basket. But Kaylin Onken would get Ipswich on the second-quarter scoreboard with a pair of free throws, leaving her team still down 16-9. And the visitors answered with an accurate trey attempt which would establish their initial double-figure lead at 19-9.

Ipswich then trailed 28-15 at intermission but Olivier would begin her team's third-quarter scoring with a basket that drew Ipswich to within 11 points at 28-17. But the Tigers would still trail 47-21 with a quarter to play, eventually outscored 19-6 in the third stanza. (The visitors also edged Ipswich 7-6 in the final quarter.) Faulkton's largest lead would be by 31 points.

Faulkton was led by Shayna Heitmann's game-high 16 points, followed by Isabel Aesoph also reaching double-figures with her 10 points. Their balanced attack would include six additional scorers. Ipswich countered with Olivier's and Onken's eight points apiece, while Katie Bierman finished with five points that featured Ipswich's lone trey. Gabby Wald, Baylee Kulesa and Karlie Gohl each added two points to the Tigers' cause.

The Tigers were 12 of 38 in their floor-shot tries which included that trey and also were 2-4 in free throws. Faulkton utilized 23 accurate floor shots with three of them being from beyond the three-point arc and were 5-7 in their free throw opportunities.

Ipswich obtained 17 rebounds, led by Olivier's four; Faulkton, 30. The Tigers sustained 16 turnovers; Faulkton, 10, all of which resulted from Tiger steals. Bierman came up with six of those steals, as well as six of her team's 12 assists.