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Staples-Motley hands Upsala their first loss

By Taylor Lunemann, Long Prairie Leader, 12/30/11, 9:49AM CST

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Staples-Motley takes home championship in battle of Cardinals

Eight teams participated at the Upsala annual holiday tournament last Wednesday and Thursday. There were two brackets with four teams each, and even the junior varsity was  able to play in Upsala’s old gym.

Upsala 73, Maple Lake 51

The Upsala girls’ first test was against Maple Lake on Wednesday night.

Despite starting the game cold, the lady Cardinals were able to get things going to win their first game of the tournament 73-51.

Upsala used full court pressure which led to many easy buckets and also tired out the Maple Lake team.

“The pressure got to them and we ran the court very well,” head coach Paul Pelzer said. “This led to many layups and eventually fatigue set in.”

Upsala had four players reach double figures in scoring.

Junior guard Aimee Pelzer just missed achieving a triple-double as she finished with 22 points, 11 rebounds, and nine assists to lead the Cardinals.

Senior Kimmy Mrozek added 21 points and nine rebounds.

Upsala 61, Staples-Motley 73

With the win on Wednesday night, the lady Cardinals earned a trip to the championship game against the Staples-Motley Cardinals on Thursday night.

Staples proved to be the top Cardinals team in the gym that night as they started out hot, shooting 8/12  from behind the arc in the first half en route to a 73-61 win.

This was Upsala’s first loss of the season, but coach Pelzer was pleased with how his team reacted to a very good team.

“That was by far the toughest team we have played this year,” he said. “They don’t have one shooter, they have five, and it’s hard to defend that.”

“I was happy with our play, their bench is very deep and it showed us what we need to work on. It’s okay to lose to teams that are better than you that night, it would be fun to play them again.”

The Staples team used very crisp and clean ball movement to get open looks against the Upsala zone defense.

“We need to be a little quicker defending the three-point shot,” Pelzer said. “At halftime I told them to get out and contest every shot, but it’s difficult to defend that when they move the ball so well.”

Pelzer led the Cardinals in scoring with 17 points. Tracy Herzog added 15 points on a perfect 7/7 shooting.

With the loss, the Cardinals fall to 6-1 on the season, but remain undefeated in conference play.

Their next game will be against Isle on Tuesday. They will then travel to Clarissa to take on Eagle Valley in a Prairie Conference game.

www.lpleader.com

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