By Jared Schmeltzer
Reporter
On Tuesday (Jan. 9) the Merrill girls basketball team hosted the Wisconsin Rapids Red Raiders in their first meeting of the year. After trailing at halftime the Merrill girls were still able to pull out the 64-57 victory.
The first half was very close with the Red Raiders getting a one point advantage before halftime.
Merrill head coach Joelene Weix said, “We started out a little sluggish and Rapids did a nice job hitting open shots in the first half. We started putting more backcourt pressure on their guards and that opened up some easy break points and gave us more offensive opportunities.”
The Merrill girls would go into the halftime break trailing 27-26 before coming out and taking charge in the second half. Merrill outscored the Red Raiders by eight in the second half to get the 64-57 win.
“We did a nice job taking care of the ball,” Weix said. “Our guards rebounded well and had better scoring production in the second half. We are still struggling around the arc and hope to improve on that.”
The Bluejays had eight different scorers in the game and had two girls in double digits. Maddix Bonnell had a very efficient game scoring 17 points on 77% shooting. Bonnell also came down with nine rebounds, got three steals and dished out seven assists in the game. Patience Pyan finished the game with 19 points, knocking down four three pointers along the way. Pyan would also grab three rebounds, get four steals and two assists. Molly Weix had a perfect shooting game finishing four for four from the field and knocking down one of her two free throws to get her nine points. Weix would also grab five rebounds and dish out one assist.
The Jays will be back on the court Friday as they play host to the Evergreens of D.C. Everest at 7:15 p.m.