The Holt Lady Indians defeated the Fort Zumwalt South Lady Bulldogs, 51-34, on Monday to move their record to 7-9 and pick up their second win in a row. The loss drops Zumwalt South to 10-8 and marks their third loss in the last four games.

Junior forward Allison Meyer (‘18) dominated the boards, collecting 16 rebounds, including 4 on the offensive glass. Meyer also shot 6-of-8 from the foul line and added 14 points and two steals. This game marks Meyer this season. Overall, the Indians shot at a 71.4% clip from the free throw line, capitalizing on 15 of their 21 foul shots, including a stretch of 10 makes in a row during the second half.

Junior guard Nicole Griesenauer (‘18) led all scorers with 19 points, shooting 8-of-10 from the field and a perfect 7-for-7 on two-point field goal attempts. Nicole’s twin sister, Emily, also put up double digits for the Lady Indians, scoring 10 and shooting a perfect 4-for-4 at the line. Zumwalt South sophomore forward Hannah Warnecke was the game’s other double-digit scorer, putting up 10 points in a losing effort.

Head Coach Rick Jungermann has been impressed with Meyer’s performance as of late. “She played awesome last night. She has stepped up big time the last few games. She’s said, ‘You know what, we’re tired of losing. We need to change this.’ She has been a spark for us as far as being a leader and saying, ‘Let’s go, guys. We need to pick it up.’”

“I was very impressed with her rebounding performance last night,” Griesenauer said of Meyer. “Also, if she got an offensive rebound and found an open shooter outside, she would kick it out to them for a three.”

Meyer was equally impressed with Griesenauer’s 19-point performance. “She did very well shooting from the outside and taking it to the basket,” Meyer said of Griesenauer. “She had a great offensive night.”

Turnovers have been a lingering issue for the Lady Indians as they sit two games below .500 despite high expectations. Coach Jungermann says that they can turn it around if they simply focus on what they can do to win the mental battle and shake off those turnover demons. “We just need to find a way to slow the game down in our heads,” Jungermann said. “We want to push the ball, but you also don’t want to push the ball to the point where we’re speeding ourselves up and turning the ball over. We just try to do so much sometimes. We have to move the basketball but also look at our pass first, have a purpose with our dribble, don’t just dribble into the corner and pick it up, little things like that.”

The Lady Indians’ efficiency from the free throw line was a key part of their 17-point victory, as Jungermann acknowledges. “We got a lot of free throw opportunities and we capitalized on those opportunities last night,” he said. “There are some games where we shoot eight free throws, whereas last night we shot 21, so that was a huge difference in helping us win, as well.”

The Lady Indians square off with those same Lady Bulldogs this Wednesday, February 1st, at 7 pm, as they take their game on the road looking for their third straight win.