After a fifth straight loss which she did everything within her power to avoid, senior guard Jamie Nieland sat on the Austin bench after the game on Tuesday and calmly vented.

Wednesday, February 09, 2000

After a fifth straight loss which she did everything within her power to avoid, senior guard Jamie Nieland sat on the Austin bench after the game on Tuesday and calmly vented.

"It’s tough," said Nieland, who led Austin with 15 points in Tuesday’s 57-50 loss to Mankato West. "You work so hard in practice that you expect to win.

"We haven’t felt the winning like we should be."

Nieland called the matchup with West a "50/50 game," meaning she believed it was a game against evenly matched teams that could go either way.

After trailing 31-27 at halftime, the Packers put Nieland’s 50/50 theory to the test early in the third.

Austin swung momentum to its side with a 10-2 run to start the second half.

In that run, the Packers did precisely what they need to do to be successful – rebound the basketball.

The Packers scored three consecutive buckets during their run by employing the same formula – first grabbing the rebound after the Scarlets’ first missed shot, then turning the board into a break.

That formula led to two fast break layups by Gina Golberg and one by Sara Turvey, who picked up a foul and converted the three-point play. The 10-2 run put Austin up 37-33.

"When we rebound then we can fast break," Austin coach Sloan Suess said. "We’re not a real good half-court team. We’re a running team."

But because of its literal shortcoming - no Austin player is taller than 5 feet, 8 inches – the Packers’ running game comes and goes.

"With our size," Suess said, "we don’t rebound well."

Nieland said the Packers have worked hard of late at rebounding in practice. But even solid boxing-out can’t overcome what West threw at the Packers – a 6-foot center in Jessica Mittelstadt, who scored 13, most coming after she hit the glass in search of second- and third-chance opportunities.

But it was Mittelstadt’s compliment – 6-foot sophomore shooting guard Lindsey VanGuilder – who did the Packers in.

With the game tied at 41, VanGuilder scored 10 of her game-high 20 in the fourth quarter. She hit three jumpers to open the quarter to go with a three pointer from teammate Anne Steffan. And just like that Austin trailed 50-41.

"We had our opportunities," said Suess, whose team fell to 5-12, 5-8 in the Big Nine.

West improved to 9-8, 6-7.

West (57)

Anne Steffan 7, Jobeth Schmiesing 4, Lindsay Boutchee 3, Jessica Mittelstadt 13, Elizabeth Tracy 10, Lindsey VanGuilder 20.

 

Austin (50)

Sara Turvey 12, Stacy Fisher 5, Gina Golberg 10, Lauren Feller 2, Jana Madson 5, Jamie Nieland 15.