The Alta-Aurelia Warriors traveled to Storm Lake St. Mary’s to face off against the Panthers for their season opener.
Girls
Alta-Aurelia came into Friday’s matchup with a 2-0 record, but both of them were scrappy and Head Coach Dana Christen emphasized that her team needed to start stronger after the first two games combined for 11 first-quarter points.
Tonight, the Warriors jumped out to a 13-0 start and led 31-5 after the first quarter. They held St. Mary’s scoreless in the second quarter, taking a 44-5 lead into the halftime break. The Panthers did score four points in the third quarter, followed by five in the fourth and Alta-Aurelia pulled many of their starters, only scoring 18 points in the second half to finish the game 62-14.
Nora Peterson stormed out with 22 points (16 in the first half), Lucy Gunkelman added 13 being active down in the paint, and Peyton Kies sparked with 10 points off the bench.
For Storm Lake St. Mary’s, Sophomore Neely Bacon led the charge with five points, Isabelle Landgraf had four, Autumn Wunschel and Abby Wunschel each had two and Ruby Phelps scored a point at the free throw line. Free throws were a struggle in the first half for Alta-Aurelia as they were 1/6, finishing 7/14, and St. Mary’s finished 1/3.
Alta-Aurelia girls improve to 3-0 and will be at home for the first time this year on Tuesday, December 5th hosting Sioux Central. Storm Lake St. Mary’s falls to 0-1 and will be home to GTRA on Tuesday.
Boys
Storm Lake St. Mary’s Boys were opening the season with their first-year Head Coach Maurice Williams. Alta-Aurelia was looking to rebound after falling to Ridge View Thursday night 61-52, where they committed 25 turnovers. Similar to the girls, Alta-Aurelia raced out to a quick 15-0 lead, which sprung them to a 39-3 lead after the first. The Warriors went on to outscore the Panthers 30-2 in the second quarter with a halftime score of 69-5.
Leading all scores tonight was Senior Jack Bloom with 17 points. Auden Dullea finished with 13 points. Bloom and Dullea didn’t play in the second half. With many of the starters pulled in the second half, Alta-Aurelia scored 27 points in the second half, while St. Mary’s tallied five for a final score of 96-11. The Warriors were 17/24 from the free-throw line.
Other scorers for Alta-Aurelia included Camden Reinert with 14, Lucas Baker (13), Mason Barnes (8), Adam Stephan (9), Cameron Stites (4), Peyton Meyer (2), William Kueny (2), Sam Sennart (4), and Isaiah Segovia (5).
Storm Lake St. Mary’s had Santiago Soria lead with four points, and then Brendon Peterson, Ivan Del Villar, and Jensy Reyes contributed with two points. Dylan Martin shot the only free throws of the game for the Panthers and made one.
Alta-Aurelia now captures their first win, sitting at 1-1 on the season, and will battle Sioux Central this Tuesday, December 5th, while St. Mary’s will seek their first victory back at the Panther Pit on Tuesday taking on GTRA.
