The Blaine County Journal News-Opinion - We've Got The County Covered

The Turner tornado girls Basketball team began the season in Glasgow at the Class C Showcase. The girls began the season Friday morning with a hard fought 36-34 win over the Nashua Porcupines. Saturday morning Turner fell in a tough 51-49 set back to the Glasgow Scotties JV to start the season 1-1.

Sophomore Cassidy Grabofsky scored the first point of the season knocking down a free throw after being fouled on a drive to the basket. Junior Hannah Richman fired off a bomb from long distance that bounced around a fell through for a 4-2 Turner lead early.

Both defenses controlled the action early on with offenses struggling to get their shots to fall. Grabofsky and Richman lead the Turner offense early on scoring all six of the teams first quarter points. Nashua scored eight in the first quarter to take a two point lead into the second.

Grabofsky connected on a three ball and a long two-pointer to give her eight points in the half. Freshman Bridget Reed scored down low for the Tornadoes but the Porcupines owned a 18-13 advantage at the break.

Senior Dakota Krass got into the scoring column with a nice take to the basket down the left side of the key. Richman then stole the ball fed it to Krass who then knocked down a three ball from the top of the arc cutting the Nashua lead to 22-21 with 2:44 left in the third quarter.

Krass continued to attack the Porcupine defense, scoring again on a drive to the basket to keep the Tornadoes with in one at 24-23. Nashua opened up a 28-23 lead by the end of the quarter as the teams headed to the fourth.

Reed scored on a nice hook from the right block to even the score at 32-32. Krass then gave Turner the lead for good with a pair of free throws. Turner closed out the game with a 36-34 win. Grabofsky finished the contest with 15 points while Krass finished with 10 and Reed eight.

Saturday Turner left everything on the court in a competitive early season test. Turner doubled up the Scotties in the opening stanza getting seven points from Krass and another four from Grabofsky to lead 14-7 after one quarter.

Turner maintained the advantage throughout the second quarter as each team scored nine in the frame giving Turner a 23-16 advantage heading into the third quarter. Turner shot an impressive 10-11 from the charity stripe in the opening half.

The Scotties turned up the heat on the Tornadoes in the third quarter, but the Tornadoes did what they could to stay even. Krass scored five to go along with four each from Reed and Grabofsky but the Tornadoes saw there seven point advantage evaporate as the teams entered the fourth quarter tied at 36-36.

The Scotties opened up a six point lead, 49-43 midway through the fourth. The Tornadoes did their best to chip away at the deficit but in the end it was Glasgow securing a 51-49 win. Krass led the Tornadoes with 14 points in the contest. Reed added 11 and sophomore Meridian Snider six to the Turner effort.

Head Coach Julie Welsh was pleased with her team, "The girls defensive skills have improved, but we still have some work to do to be competitive in the District 9C." Welsh added, "I was happy with their shooting as well. We will be working on our defensive pressure and getting some new ideas to improve our press break."

Turner will host the Fort Benton Longhorns on Friday, Decmeber 16 in their District 9C and home opener.