MANKATO — Mankato East parlayed a 29-point performance from senior guard Macy Birkholz, along with a 45-24 rebounding advantage, to overcome a second-half deficit en route to a 62-44 Big Nine Conference girls basketball win over Mankato West on Friday night at the East gym.
West (5-8, 3-5 in Big Nine) scored the first six points — Livi Downs’ steal and layup, Avery Schmitz’s driving hoop and two free throws from Ella Mullenbach — of the second half to take a 31-30 lead.
However, Birkholz fueled an 18-3 Cougars’ surge which produced a 48-34 margin on junior guard Maddy Beaty’s steal and driving basket with 6:04 to go.
“We knew coming into this game that it would be a tough game because the rivalry runs deep,” Birkholz said. “This is always one of the most exciting games of the year and everyone was super stoked for this one. We’ve been really focusing on sharing the ball on offense. We have a lot of things going on this season and that has helped us grow while getting better each game.”
East (8-6, 7-2) took an early 16-13 lead behind a trio of 3-pointers and transition drive from Birkholz before 3-pointers from Downs and Mullenbach helped the Scarlets gain a 21-19 lead on Jillian Olsen’s putback with 7:48 left in the half.
After Downs’ right-side triple shot the Scarlets into a 25-23 lead, Ellie Edberg’s inside tally and top-of-the-key 3-pointer, along with Hailey Petzel’s layup, put the Cougars in front 30-25 at the break.
“We’ve been working hard on defense and doing the little things in practice,” said Downs, who finished with a team-best 19 points. “We’ve been talking a lot on defense and then hoping our offense will follow. We were able to get some stops and then get out in transition in the first half.
“We had a lapse on defense in the second half and that’s something we’ve got to work on. We have to work on getting our endurance up. We don’t play a lot of girls so we have to make sure we’re playing hard the whole time. We’re a smaller team but we have to do a better job of boxing out.”
After Olsen’s right baseline 3-pointer pulled West within 36-34, Birkholz nailed a trio of pull-up jumpers — two from beyond the arc — before Hannah Full banked in a left-side 3-pointer to expand the margin to 53-36 with 4:44 to go. Full and Edberg chipped in seven points apiece with Edberg also getting a team-best 13 rebounds and three assists.
Olsen dropped through 11 points for the Scarlets.
“We needed to lock down on Tucker (Downs) and adjust the way she was playing,” East coach Ana Boever said. “Our boards are a huge part of our game, and those gritty plays make a big difference. We get a lot of energy from that and it gives us momentum.”
East connected on 27 of 62 from the field for 43.5% compared to the Scarlets’ 16 of 49 for 32.6%.
“Our girls played hard, we just lack depth right now so we have to find some kids who can help us out,” West coach Dustin Wright said. “We gave up too many second and third shots which is going to come back and hurt you. We did a pretty gook job of packing it in when Macy Birkholz had the ball because we wanted some one else to beat us.”
Both team are in action Tuesday, with East playing at New Ulm and West traveling to Hutchinson.