Crown College Women Fall Twice To Conference Foes
Saint Bonifacius, Minn – After a 19 day lay off for the Crown College Storm women’s basketball team, they took to the road for the first time since the opening weekend in November to resume conference play against the Bethany Lutheran College Vikings on Friday night.
With only 6 available players, the Storm struggled to find their offense against the Vikings early in the first half and trailed 41-6 with just over 3 minutes to go in the half. A late surge of offense by the Storm allowed them to outscore the Vikings 8-3 to close the half trailing 44-14.
The second half was much more competitive for the Storm as they were able to find their shooting touch and scored 29 points in the second half compared to just 14 in the first half of action. A surprise offensive performance by freshman forward Jessica Lemke (Jackson, Wis.), who scored a game high 24 points on 6 of 14 shooting and a perfect 12-12 from the free throw line, was a bright spot on a difficult night for the Storm. The final score was Bethany Lutheran with 82 points and Crown College with 43 points, dropping the Storm to 0-8 overall and 0-3 in conference play heading into Saturday’s match up with Martin Luther College in New Ulm.
The Storm were able to welcome back leading scorer Judy Mundt to Saturday’s game after missing Friday night’s contest for personal reasons. The Knights shut down the Storm offense for much of the first half leading 32-9 with five minutes and forty seconds to play before the offense started to find its rhythm and outscored the Knights 11-7 to close the halftime lead to 19 with a score of 39-20.
The Storm offense struggled out of the gates in the second half as the Knights held the Storm to just one point midway through the second half going on a 21-1 run and building their lead to 60-21 en route to a 73-32 victory. Leading the way for the Storm was freshman guard Judy Mundt (Utica, Minn.), who was the only player in double figures with 12 points with 9 of those points coming from the free throw line.
The next action for the Storm will be Saturday, January 16th at 3:00 p.m. when they will take on the Northwestern College Eagles at home.
