Girls basketball: Bingham 53, Weber 35

On Dec. 18, I covered the Bingham-Weber girls basketball game at Bingham High School. It was my first opportunity to watch both teams this season. There was some good talent on the court, but this was Bingham's night. Here is the article that will appear in Bingham's yearbook. I'll probably adjust the Weber article a little bit.

By Bruce Smith

Matchup

             One month into the girls basketball season, the Bingham Miners are 8-0 and coach Rand Rasmussen’s team is doing it with defense.

            Tuesday night, the Miners got a chance to match up against Weber’s Erin Reichle and passed another test. This time, Mackenzie Bruggeman scored 17 points as Bingham claimed a 53-35 non-region victory.
            “I like to play teams whom I know will give me a chess match,” said Bingham coach Rand Rasmussen, whose team improved to 8-0. “I was proud of the girls for the way they reacted.”
            Bingham led the entire game. At halftime, the Miners had a 27-15 advantage and senior Ashton Henderson had helped hold Reichle to just six points.
            But Reichle started the second half with a basket, and then added a three-pointer to start a 7-0 run. With the lead down to five points, Bingham called timeout to regroup.
            “I told the girls, ‘we have to find out if we’re any good,’” Rasmussen said.
            At the pivotal moment, Bruggeman took control. She scored Bingham’s next eight points. The Miners led 40-30 by the end of the period. But, more importantly, they had survived. At that point, their depth made a big difference and the Miners added to the lead when Weber was forced to foul.
            Weber coach Rick Stoeckl hoped his team learned something from this game. The Warriors fell to 6-3, but two of their losses have been to unbeaten teams.
            “Little things made the difference … like a turnover here, and their shots fell,” he said. “With a good team like Bingham, if you don’t score for 4-5 possessions, you’re going to fall way behind.”
            The team’s shooting percent was actually pretty similar (just under 40 percent), but Weber committed 22 turnovers.
            Reichle finished with 17 points, a little below her season average so far. Hannah Charlton added eight points and Hanna Buswell was a beast underneath with a game-high 12 rebounds.
             “We like playing teams like Bingham,” said Stoeckl. “We’re a young team, and need to learn quickly. They’re a challenge and, at least we held them for a few minutes.”
             Sheradyn Parker had 11 points for Bingham and Jilian Powell had nine.

GAME SUMMARY

 

Weber            8       7     15       5   -   35

Bingham     17     10     13     13   -   53

   WEBER (35) – Erin Reichle 5-9 6-6 17, Haley Nelson 0-0 0-0 0, Hannah Charlton 2-6 3-4 8, Maren Ulrich 1-2 0-1 2, Hanna Buswell 2-7 0-0 4, Megan Bedwell 1-2 0-0 2, Abbie O’Neill 1-3 0-0 2, Alyssa Potter 0-1 0-2 0, McKenna Dahl 0-0 0-2 0, Kandice Jensen 0-1 0-0 0, Hanna Johnson 0-0 0-0 0, Abri Carney 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 12-31 9-15 35.
   BINGHAM (53) – Madison Aulai-Roe 0-0 1-2 1, Ashton Henderson 0-5 1-2 1, Mackenzie Bruggeman 6-10 5-9 17, Jilian Powell 3-12 2-2 9, Sheradyn Parker 5-9 0-0 11, Cheril Lyman 1-5 1-2 3, Whitney Daniels 2-4 0-1 4, Monique Washington 3-4 1-4 7, Holly Sorensen 0-0 0-0 0, Molly Erickson 0-0 0-0 0, Emily Anderson 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 20-49 11-22 53.
   Total fouls: Weber 18, Bingham 11. Fouled out: None. Technical fouls: Washington.
   Three-point shooting: Weber 2-9 (Reichle, Charlton). Bingham 2-11 (Powell, Parker).
   Rebounds: Bingham 31 (Henderson, Bruggeman, Washington 6), Weber 26 (Buswell 12).
   Turnovers: Weber 22, Bingham 8.