St. Bonifacius, Minn. - The Polars hosted Luther on Thursday night and fall 65-74 in a high scoring affair. The Polars found their offense as the score their season high in points, but they needed more given Luther's high scoring offense that scored consistently in the 70's last season.
Crown knew that had a battle ahead of them coming into this game. Luther went 18-9 a year ago in a difficult conference, and beat Crown by a wide margin early last season. The Polars were aggressive from the jump, and were extremely efficient from the floor. They scored 20 points on 7 of 16 shooting and 3 of 7 from beyond the arc in the first quarter, giving them a 3 point advantage. Luther responded well defensively in the second, holding the Polars to just 12 points. The Polars, however, held the Norse to just 17 points for the second straight quarter. Crown was strong on both sides of the ball in the first half, and trailed by just 2 points as the score was 32-34 in favor of the Norse at halftime. In the third quarter, Luther immediately went up by 5 points and would slowly build a lead on the Polars. The Norse ended up winning the quarter by 12 points, but the Polars had opportunities to swing momentum in their direction that they couldn't get to go their way. Luther outscored the Polars by 12 in the third, and though a 14 point Luther lead to start the fourth, this game still had a competitive atmosphere. Crown's defense picked back up again in the fourth as they outscored the Norse in the final quarter, holding them to just 14 points. The lead was too big, however, and the Polars couldn't cut the lead closer to 8 in the final quarter. The game would end with a 9 point Norse win with a final of 74-65.
Freshman
Avery Youngblood was the leading scorer for the Polars, going 6 for 11 from three and scoring 18 points. Youngblood is a promising young player for the Polars with a long career ahead of her.
Sydney Cotten also had a big game in the scoring column, finishing with 17 points along with 7 rebounds.
Brayli Reimer, who was dealing with cramps in the second half, had her second double double of the season finishing with 12 points and 11 boards. She also had 6 assists and 3 steals.
Isabelle Sager was dominant on the glass again hauling in 11 rebound as well. The Polars had the advantage again in points in the paint with 22.
The Polars women play their third game in five days on Saturday as the travel to Watertown, Wisconsin to play Maranatha Baptist University at 3:00pm.
