Point guard Sara Turvey was the instigator for the Packers Tuesday night at Ove Berven Gym.

Wednesday, January 12, 2000

Point guard Sara Turvey was the instigator for the Packers Tuesday night at Ove Berven Gym. She was everywhere in Austin’s 61-42 win over the Albert Lea Tigers.

Turvey was all over the court, her cross country training coming in handy. She began the game by ripping down five rebounds in the first half. She also got the Packers rolling on the scoreboard with eight points in the first quarter. She then picked up her defense and made numerous steals the rest of the way. In the third quarter, she left the scoring to junior forward Stacy Fisher.

"They left me open under the basket the whole game," Fisher said. "Turvey did the job. She drove and dished the whole game."

Fisher scored nine points in the third quarter, 14 for the contest. The game high.

"They were in a 1-3-1 zone at the time," Austin coach Slone Suess said. "Sara, like all of our guards, was able to spot the open player and make the nice pass."

The Packers are on a roll with two Big Nine Conference wins to start the new year.

"We were fired up," Fisher said. "Coming off the (Mankato) East win we knew we had to put Albert Lea away."

"We were ready," Suess said. "We didn’t take Albert Lea lightly. Everybody was ready to play because it was parent’s night."

Everybody was certainly ready to play with all 11 varsity players scoring.

Meanwhile, the Tigers were searching for their first win of the season. They are 0-9 overall and 0-7 in the Big Nine.

The Packers would not let that initial victory take place in Austin, racing out to a 16-4 lead after one quarter and 26-12 lead at the half.

Going into the fourth, Austin had just about put the game away with a 44-26 lead.

"We never really were able to put them away," Suess said. "They hung around the whole time."

"They beat us down the floor," Albert Lea coach Neil Chalmers said. "Their quickness and flat out speed hurt us. They also shot much better. We tried to make anyone but Gina Golberg beat us. She is a good player, a great athlete, and also a good kid."

The Tigers did an OK job of keeping Golberg in check, but she got loose for 11 points in the game.

Austin (4-6, 4-2) takes to the road for its next Big Nine contest. They are at Rochester Century on Friday.

"Century is a lot like us," Suess said. "They have a couple of good outside shooters and a small quick team."