ADAMS – It was the one-two Rebels combo of Betsy Matheis (14 points) and Erin Orvik (16 points, three threes) just barely beating out the Lyle/Pacelli inside-out duo of Laura Nelson (14 points) and Kari Leif (15 points, three threes).

Wednesday, February 09, 2000

ADAMS – It was the one-two Rebels combo of Betsy Matheis (14 points) and Erin Orvik (16 points, three threes) just barely beating out the Lyle/Pacelli inside-out duo of Laura Nelson (14 points) and Kari Leif (15 points, three threes).

Matheis and Orvik combined for 30 while Nelson and Leif for 29.

Matheis and Orvik also got a lot of scoring help from their teammates. Five of them got in the scoring book for 23 points while only two others scored for L/P, for just six points. The final result was a 53-38 win for Southland.

Matheis and Orvik scored the first 13 Rebels points as Southland went out to a 15-10 lead after one quarter. Off the bench, Melissa Ehret and Joni Sheedy scored the only points that did not come from Nelson and Leif in this period. Ehret hit two straight jumpers while Sheedy hit one field goal.

Southland, which pushed the ball up the floor all night, pushed the lead up to seven by halftime, 29-22. They led by as many as 11 in the quarter.

"We had a bad first half," L/P coach Steve Baumann said. "We were beaten on the boards on both ends, literally. If we don’t start battling on the boards we won’t win another game this year."

Southland won the battle of the boards for the game, 43-36. Matheis grabbed 13.

Half way through the third period it was Southland sophomore Sarah Thome (five points, eight rebounds) pushing the ball the length of the court and scoring a basket to put the Rebels up nine 34-25. Leif then hit one of her three threes in the game to cut the lead to six, which would be as close as L/P would get for the rest of the game.

Southland then went on a 7-0 run. Birthday girl Heather Irvin hit a trey, Irvin was two-of-two from beyond the arc. Matheis then was on the receiving end of a pretty fast break that received the praise of Southland coach Earl Orvik who shouted out "Way to run Betsy."

First Mary Landherr got a defensive rebound. She through an outlet pass to Thome who went hard down the court before dishing the ball to Matheis. Matheis was fouled on the play but missed the free throw.

"We had a few turnovers in the first half trying to finish off the break," Orvik said, "We were more patient in the second half."

Leif closed out the quarter with a trey with 17 seconds left to pull L/P within 10, 41-31. Orvik then pushed it back to 13 with the first bucket of the fourth quarter. Later Andrea O’Connell sealed the win with a steal and a drive for a hoop with two minutes, 32 seconds left in the game. The bucket put the Rebels up 14, 47-33.

Southland was 21-of-49 from the field for 43 percent, L/P was 13-of-57 for 28 percent.

"We didn’t shoot the ball that well," Baumann said.

Southland keeps their Southeast Conference title hopes alive with the win but will need a lot of help from the team they vanquished Tuesday. Southland ((7-12) now has a 3-3 Conference record with games remaining at Grand Meadow on Thursday and in Adams next Tuesday against the first place Fillmore Central Falcons. L/P (6-13, 1-5) has both Fillmore Central and LeRoy-Ostrander remaining on its schedule. Those two squads have just one and two losses in the Conference, respectively. It is not farfetched that there could be a three-way tie at 5-3. L/P’s only conference victory this season has been against the Falcons. If both Southland and L/P win out there would be a three-way tie.

Grand Meadow picked up its third win of the season with a 46-43 win over the Hurricanes in Houston Tuesday night.

Lyle/Pacelli (35)

Julie Rugg 0, Tammy May 0, Kari Leif 15, Laura Nelson 14, Jenna Baumann 0, Melissa Ehret 4, Katie Foster 0, Joni Sheedy 2.

Southland (53)

Heather Irvin 6, Holly Johnson 0, Betsy Matheis 14, Erin Orvik 16, Andrea O’Connell 6, Sarah Thome 5, Mary Landherr 0, Sally Chilman 0, Desirae Howe 4, Michele Neuvirth 2.