Beavers lose three; Schaller breaks season block record early in 03-04 campaign, set to break Heartland conference record
By Ben Risinger, SID
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Sophomore Karin Schaller (Jenera/Arlington) led Bluffton with a career high 17 points and posted six blocks for the contest. The six blocks puts Schaller’s season block total at 33, surpassing the previous season block record at
”It’s the most amazing thing to see a season record being broke in six games. All season Karin has been very consistent on defense and hard to shoot over,” head coach Amanda Curtis said. “I think this is a testament to how hard she worked over the off-season.”
The Beavers started the game with a 7-0 deficit and battled their way back to lead 8-7. The lead would be short lived however as the Maple Leafs would control the court for much of the remainder of the contest.
”We did some nice things tonight but they went on a run in the first half and we couldn’t answer back,” Curtis said. “In the second half they went on another run that hurt us. We just can’t have lapses where we don’t respond.”
Freshman Tanya Rickenberg (Defiance/Paulding) was the only other Beaver in double figures with 14 points for the night. Rickenberg led Bluffton in rebounds with seven for the game. Christina Champion (Oregon/Clay) had a career high night in steals with four for the contest.
Thomas More 68, Bluffton 50
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Leading the Beavers again was Sophomore Karin Schaller with 15 points and 14 rebounds for the double-double. She also posted eight blocks to tie her own single game block record for the second time this season. Freshman Tanya Rickenberg threw in 13 points and eight rebounds (career high) for the Beavers. Freshman Carrie Weisbecker (Okeana/Ross) had a career high night in points with nine.
For the game, the Beavers shot 36 percent compared to the Saints 34 percent from the floor. Bluffton also controlled the game by only committing six fouls for the entire contest, with Thomas More posting 15. Bluffton pulled down 44 rebounds for the game with the Saints grabbing 47. At the free-throw line the Beavers were 8-of-16 compared to Thomas More at 3-of-3.
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The Beavers led early in the contest 17-14 for their only lead of the game. At the half the score was 36-30 in favor of
“We played well for 35 minutes of the game. We can’t keep giving up the ball and seeing the other team turn it into points,” Head coach Amanda Curtis said. “For the most part I’m happy. We just need to learn how to play for 40 minutes straight. Overall, intensity wise we did have one of our better games.”
Turnovers did hurt the Beavers as
Freshman Tanya Rickenberg led Bluffton in scoring with a career high 20 points and nine assists (career high). Senior Lindsay Bacon (Troy/Troy) was the only other Beaver in double figures with 13 points. Junior Lindsey Delscamp (Germantown/Madison) had a career high day in points with eight. Sophomore Karin Schaller had a career high in assists with four. She posted four blocks for the contest which brings her season total to 45, averaging 5.6 per game. Schaller is five blocks away from breaking the conference single season block record of 49.
Freshman Tanya Rickenberg leads the Beavers with 12.3 points per game for the season and assists with 38. She ranks 9th in the HCAC in scoring and leads the conference in assists, averaging 4.75 per game. Sophomore Karin Schaller ranks first on the team and second in the conference in rebounding, averaging 10.8 boards per game. She leads both the men and women in the league in blocks with 45 for the year (5.6 per game). In points per game Schaller is 12th in the HCAC in scoring and second on the squad averaging 11.4 points per game. Senior Lindsay Bacon is third on the squad in points, averaging 10.9 points per game (15th in HCAC) and leads the team with 11 three-pointers for the year which ranks 6th in the Heartland conference.
Bluffton will be back in action on December 29th and 30th on the road. Next Monday the Beavers travel to Olivet, tip off is scheduled for
