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ALTON – Jersey sophomore guard Claire Breden was named the Alton High School Girls’ Tip-Off Classic Tournament’s Most Valuable Player Saturday night and her team played Breese Mater Dei close until the end in a 55-52 Knights’ win.
Breden scored 22 points in the championship game. Joining her on the first-team all-tourney squad were Martrice Brooks and Diavian Mchundrew of Southeast, Kierra Winkeler of Mater Dei and Allyson Fehrmann of Breese Central.
The second team consisted of the Panthers’ Abby Manns, Abby Braundmeier and Shannon Lampe of Mater Dei, Sophia Lorton of Hardin Calhoun and Southeast’s Nora Duffy. Jersey’s Metzler had 11 points and Abby Manns had 10 points in the title game. Shannon Lampe had 15 points for Breese Mater Dei and Kierra Winkeler added 14 points.
Jersey head coach Kevin Strebel said Breese Mater Dei is a tough team.
“Breese Mater Dei showed that tonight, they are returning a bunch of starters off of a very good squad last year, they’re well-coached, they showed a heck of a lot of heart. So, the idea that, we talked about it at halftime, we haven’t done anything at the halfway point. We had a lead, but it’s a 32-minute game, not a 16-minute game.
“One of the things is, as we talked about, is we’d like to have some better possessions that we get on a roll. We’ve got fire, and sometimes, that can work against us. Whenever we come down and, you know, a pass and a shot, as opposed to a drive after drive after drive, trying to get to the free throw line. They went to the free throw line a lot more than what we did tonight. They got more layups than we did, and, you know, that’s what wins basketball games.”
Jersey plays next at Columbia before Thanksgiving break starts.
“I told the players on the team, our players in the locker room, that it’s game number four, against team number four,” Coach Strebel said. “I feel like we’re going through several tough teams, and that’s what we want; that’s how we get better. Tonight, made us better. We’re going to learn from this. Otherwise, we’re going to have disappointing results. Second place in a good tournament. A lot of good things happened there, and I’m very proud of the girls in general with what happened throughout the tournament.”Colin Feeney also contributed to this story.
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