Girls Basketball: Second-half surge leads Goodhue to victory

Despite one of its top players sitting out due to injury, No. 3-ranked (1A) Goodhue cruised to a commanding 67-36 Hiawatha Valley League Blue Division victory on Tuesday over Triton in Dodge Center.

With Mikayla Miller sitting out due to a sprained knee, Mikayla Tipcke paced the Wildcats’ offense with 16 points, including three 3-pointers. Kali Ryan added 12, and Meredith Watson finished with 10 as all of Goodhue’s players scored in the victory.

The Cobras (3-13, 1-5 HVL Blue) kept it close in the first half, trailing 25-23 at halftime. But in the final 18 minutes, the Wildcats out-scored their opponent 42-13.

“We didn’t do much differently,” said Goodhue head coach Josh Wieme. “We just spread the ball a little better, made better passes and attacked better. The energy level was higher, too.”

Using a 14-0 run to start the second half, the Wildcats shot 48 percent from the floor to secure their third straight victory.

“We played some great team basketball to build that lead up,” Wieme said.

Goodhue (16-2, 6-1 HVL Blue) faces one of its toughest tests of the season on Thursday, hosting Bethlehem Academy in a battle of two of Class 1A’s top 10 teams. In last week’s state poll, the Cardinals were ranked 10th.

Tags: girls basketball, sports, prep, goodhue