By Macy Parr
On Saturday, January 11th, the Silver Lake Lady Mustangs faced off with the Heartland Lutheran Red Hornets for their third game of the week. Coach Sinsel commented, “I always worry about coming out slow for this game after two games previously in the week. Pleasanton and Blue Hill always prove to be mentally and physically draining games for us. I encouraged the girls to be patient offensively and look to get the ball inside because I knew our legs would be tired from the long week.” The first quarter of the game was a pretty even match, with Silver Lake putting up 8 to Heartland-Lutheran’s 5. However, in the second quarter, the Mustangs found some success in transition, which allowed them to lead 24-10 at the half. Silver Lake came out with a lot of intensity in the third quarter, which allowed them to go up 44-17 to go into the fourth quarter. In the final quarter of the game, the Mustangs only put up 4 points to Heartland Lutheran’s 6 to end with a victory of 48-23. Junior Sophie Schmidt found some success from the three-point line, making 3 three-pointers and finishing the game with 13 points. Senior Katy Soucek and junior MaKenna Karr fought for rebounds all night. Soucek earned a double-double for the game with 12 rebounds, and Karr had 8. Each had six offensive rebounds. The team had 13 steals for the game and limited themselves to 8 turnovers.
The following Friday, Silver Lake took on the Harvard Cardinals for another home match. Getting off to a quick lead, the Mustangs were able to go ahead 22 points, keeping Harvard scoreless in the first quarter. Every girl who was suited up contributed in the first half of the game, while Silver Lake went into halftime with a 37-2 lead. Silver Lake added 10 more points to Harvard’s 4 in the third quarter and added 7 more in the fourth quarter to Harvard’s 4. Katy Soucek led the team with 18 points for the night and her second double-double in a row with 11 rebounds. She was followed by Emma Schmidt with 9 points, Sophie Schmidt with 8, Karr with 6, freshman Brooklyn Himmelberg with 5, and freshman Libby Soucek and junior Karah Bartels with four each. The Mustangs earned 21 steals for the night and only accumulated six turnovers. They improved their record to 10-2 for the season. Sinsel commented, “Every girl who played contributed to our team goals we set before the game. I thought we remained intense and focused on those.”