Otters pull away from Cardinal girls

The Alexandria girls' basketball team was outscored 34-20 in the second half on Thursday night in a 68-53 loss to second-ranked Fergus Falls.

The Cardinals stuck right with the Otters (25-1, 16-0 CLC) through the first half behind 14 points from Lauren Trumm and seven each from Amanda Christianson and Kalli Bowser. Bowser's two free throws in the final minute cut the Cardinals' deficit to 34-33 at the break.

Alexandria went cold in the second half, especially at the free throw line. The Cardinals shot just 5-of-14 from the stripe and missed five straight just as the Otters were starting to pull away.

"We got the ball where we wanted to get the ball," head coach Wendy Kohler said. "We just didn't convert on free throws. That really was the story of the game."

Rasmussen had a team-high 17 points and eight in the second half to help the Otters pull away. Mariah Monke added 14 and Haylie Zenner added 11. Trumm led all scorers with 21. Christianson finished with 11 and Bowser 10 for the Cardinals.

Alexandria wrapped up the regular season 20-4 and 13-3 in the CLC. The Cardinals will now turn their attention to the section tournament, where they hope to get another crack at Fergus Falls in the finals.

Tags: alexandria sports, sports, updates, cardinal, basketball