Girls basketball: Irish fall to Eagan in first Lake test

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Rosemount girls basketball coach Sam McDonald knew things would be different once the Irish started to play games within the Lake Conference.

McDonald’s hope was his team could keep the early season momentum going until conference play. The Irish accomplished the first task by winning four straight games and eight of the first nine games this season.

The next objective would be dealing with the ultra-competitive Lake Conference.

McDonald’s fears were realized in a 70-68 loss Tuesday against Eagan.

“It was a tough one,” McDonald said. “We knew going in it was going to be an even-steven matchup-wise. It could have gone a multitude of ways.”

Rosemount was outrebounded during a crucial first half, which saw the Wildcats build a 40-26 halftime lead.

“They just really beat us on the offensive boards and got a lot of put-back baskets leading to a lot of points,” McDonald said. “We just didn’t box out and rebound to the level we needed to. In the second half we kept chipping away at it. It was kind of a slow comeback. I give credit to the girls, our leadership, a couple of the girls really took control and then the rest followed in.”

Elaine Warner scored 24 points, going 10 of 13 from the free-throw line. She added eight rebounds.

Sara Feeser added 18 points. Micaella Petrich scored 16 points to go with 5 assists.

As it was against Eagan, rebounding is going to be a key to the season for the Irish.

“Going into most games we’re going to be undersized,” McDonald said. “Against Eagan, starting lineup wise, we were undersized in every spot pretty significantly. That’s the way it’s going to be. We need to impose our will and our style into the game. However basic it is, we need to compete better in the rebounding piece. It’s not about style whether you get a rebound or not.”

Rosemount had chances to tie the score late in the game, but could never get the equalizer as the Wildcats led throughout the second half.

The Irish beat Mankato East, 79-42, last week to essentially end the non-conference portion of the schedule.

Warner scored 16 points and 12 rebounds. Feeser and Rachel Hoeppner each had 14 points, while Brooke Stevens had 11 points.

Tags: girls basketball, sports, prep, rosemount