Alexandria girls' basketball: Christianson paces Cardinals

• Christianson

Alexandria’s Amanda Christianson scored 16 points in the Cardinals’ nine-point victory over St. Cloud Apollo Tuesday night. Alexandria is now 2-1 in Central Lakes Conference play and 3-2 overall. (Eric Morken, Echo Press)

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Led by Amanda Christianson’s 16 points, the Cardinal girls improved to 3-2 overall and 2-1 in the Central Lakes Conference with a 45-36 win over St. Cloud Apollo Tuesday night in CLC girls’ basketball.

“The Cards started out hot, but then fell victim to not finishing off plays,” said Cardinal head coach Wendy Kohler. “Some defensive breakdowns [allowed] the Eagles to stay close throughout the half.

“Credit the Cards, we made some good adjustments at the half and were able to pull away, making some really nice plays in the half court.”

Karly Betterman added seven points in the win, while Dani Strater contributed six, Kallie Bowser and Sarah Bruzek five each, Amanda Gould two and Jaylen Olson-Rodel one.

The Cardinals were also able to limit Apollo’s Abby Notch to just seven points. The Eagle senior guard was averaging 28.5 points per game in CLC action entering the contest.

Alexandria also limited the Eagles to just nine field goals and caused Apollo to turn the ball over 24 times.

The Cardinals took on Class AA’s No. 3 ranked Sauk Centre Mainstreeters last night, Thursday, and will host Brainerd on Tuesday night.

ALEXANDRIA 45, SC APOLLO 36

ALEXANDRIA 22 23 — 45

SC APOLLO 21 15 — 36

ALEXANDRIA – Amanda Christianson 16, Karly Betterman 7, Dani Strater 6, Kallie Bowser 6, Sarah Bruzek 5, Amanda Gould 2, Jaylen Olson-Rodel 1.

SC APOLLO – Sabina Babic 6, Katrina Johnson 10, Abby Notch 7, Alyssa Steve 2, Liz Lowery 7, Mel Gebhardt 4.

Tags: alexandria sports, sports, cardinals, girls, basketball, st, cloud, apollo