“Overall I am really pleased with the effort tonight,” commented Barnesville Head Coach Ryan Bomstad.  “We played a very good team with a lot of experience.  The Coborn’s have been playing and starting for a long time along with Michaelson.  The players competed really well tonight.  When Park Rapids made that run at the beginning of the second half to take an 8 point lead our team could have felt sorry for themselves and thrown in the towel but they fought back and took a two point lead with about three minutes to go.  I thought the last couple of minutes their seniors made plays and our execution down the stretch wasn't as good with our inexperience.  I think our players saw how physical they are going to have to be and we will continue to get better.  You just can’t have 26 turnovers against good teams.  We will learn from this and grow.” 

Barnesville made 30% (17-56) of their field goal attempts and hit just 2-of-13 treys. They did win the battle of the boards, 40-28. Park Rapids shot 37% (22-59) from the field and came up with fourteen steals, forcing 26 Barnesville turnovers on the night. 

Claire Meyer and Kim Maesse led the Trojans with 10 points apiece. Meyer also had team highs in assists (3) and steals (2), while pulling down five rebounds. Emily Bredman led with 8 rebounds, including four on the offensive end. Lexi Bolgrean and Lauren Halverson had six rebounds each and Elora Passa scored 8 points while grabbing 4 rebounds. 

“Claire and Elora did a tremendous job tonight keeping our young players in the game mentally and Kim Maesse, Lexi Bolgrean and Lauren Halversoon came in and gave us great energy and effort,” reported Coach Bomstad.  “We go back to work tomorrow and get ready for another tough test against Thief River Falls Saturday in Glyndon.”   

Rilee Michaelson and Kaisa Coborn led Park Rapids with 18 and 17 points, respectively.