Wonderful 1,000: Skyberg eclipses milestone during Arrows’ victory over Cardinals




 

 

With the Arrows secure in the belief they would comfortably complete a home/away sweep of the hapless Redwood Valley Cardinals Friday night in Pipestone, most of the attention surrounding the Big South Conference girls’ basketball game rested on the shoulders of Pipestone Area point guard Rachel Skyberg.
The senior entered the tilt 20 points shy of eclipsing the 1,000-point milestone for her high school career, and Skyberg (24 points, six rebounds, four assists, six steals) wasted no time in attaining the goal capping the Arrows’ 45-16 halftime advantage with a pair of free throws.
“It felt great, a lot of fun,” said Skyberg, who paced the Arrows to a 66-19 victory. “I wanted to get it done in the first half, and I was thankful I could get it at the line. My dad and I shoot 50-60 free throws every night have a lot of confidence with those free throws.”
Pipestone Area head coach Jay Johnson was extremely happy for Skyberg, and was quick to point out her contributions outside of the individual accolades.
“You have to be happy for those kids, kids who are not only role models to girls, but boys and girls alike any young kids,” he said. “It does not matter how tall a kid is, how high a kid can jump, they can be great people and leaders by example and constant motivators for their teammates. She makes each and every one of her teammates better, doesn’t look for individual goals, and that’s what I think makes Rachel a special person and a special player.”
And true to form, Skyberg also showered praise on her teammates following the Arrows’ 11th consecutive victory.
“I wouldn’t want to reach this goal with anyone else,” she said. “They kept telling me, good job,’ but I tell them, it’s you guys; you can’t do something like this by yourself.’ They’re all great friends and great teammates.”
While Skyberg had set out to deflect personal attention by attaining the milestone as quickly as possible, the Arrows as a unit weren’t as quick to get rolling.
That doesn’t mean the hosts didn’t enjoy a sizeable lead from
 

 

the get-go, mostly through the interior efforts of senior center Alexis Evans (13 points, five rebounds, block), but it wasn’t until midway through the first period that the Arrows were completely in rhythm offensively.
“We didn’t start as well as we wanted; we focused on our (defensive) press, which eventually helped us find our offense,” Skyberg said.
As the steals mounted for the Arrows, resulting in more possession, junior guard Shelby Bloemendaal (eight points, four steals, three rebounds) was instrumental in getting the offense on track. Her medium-range back-to-back jumpers lifted the hosts to a 19-3 lead with 9:49 remaining in the half, and the Arrows rolled on both ends of the court from there.
“A lot of kids, in this day and age, are focused on knocking down that first jumper, but I think our girls are more focused on making that first defensive stop first defensive rebound,” Johnson said. “Good things come from that mentality, and I think we saw that tonight.”
Though the Arrows were comfortable throughout the game, they never lost that focus.
“I thought the intensity stayed high and remained good the whole time,” Johnson said. “We had some mixes and matches of players, different combinations on the floor tonight, and the girls did a good job of working together.”
The second half was much of the same, as the Arrows continued to limit the Cardinals ability to get off a clean shot let alone make one. For the game, the Cardinals scored just four field goals.
The Arrows defensive pressure again yielded results via fast break opportunities and clean looks at the basket.
And with a sizable lead throughout, the Arrows were able offer more players opportunities to gain valuable competition experience.
“I think it helps, they scrimmage against the varsity in practice every day and they know they can compete at a high level to be assertive,” Johnson said. “Kaitlyn Draper came in the game in the first half, did a good job being physical inside, and Mandie Miller made a couple real nice passes and applied good ball pressure. All those girls did a real good job. Carmen Skyberg (four points, two
 

 

rebounds) was very aggressive offensively, taking the ball and going to the basket.”
While the PAS starters and veteran subs carried the load through the initial nine minutes of the second half, Carmen Skyberg, Abby Hollingsworth, Miranda Hulstein and April Haupert helped the Arrows close out the game with equal intensity.

RV 6 13 19
PAS 45 21 66

PAS 51, Minneota 48 OT
The Arrows faced intensity unmatched in their prior contest when they visited Minneota for a non-conference game Monday evening.
Despite claiming first half leads of as many as 18 points, the Arrows (12-0) found themselves fighting tooth-and-nail to retain their unblemished record.
The Vikings roared back in the first half and trailed the Arrows by a mere four points (26-22) at the break, giving way to a back-and-forth second period.
The hosts knotted the score late in the game and pulled ahead by three points with three minutes to play.
Bloemendaal drained her only three-pointer of the contest to force an overtime period (45-all) that featured high defensive pressure from both clubs.
Tied at 48-all with .4 seconds remaining in the overtime, the Arrows looked to Rachel Skyberg to break the deadlock.
After inbounding the ball to senior forward Kiaya Alderson (four points, three rebounds), Skyberg received a return pass, carried the ball to the top of the key and drove the lane. Fouled in the process, Skyberg’s scooping layup fell through the cylinder. The senior point guard completed the three-point play, and the Arrows prepared for the ride home with their undefeated record intact.
Skyberg finished as the game’s high scorer with 22 points, six assists and four steals.
Evans (seven rebounds, two blocks) and Bloemendaal (three rebounds, four steals) added nine points apiece, while MacKenzie Haroldson finished with a team high eight rebounds.
The Arrows will be back in action Friday night when they tipoff against Big South Conference foe Windom in the first game of a girl/boy doubleheader in Windom.

PAS 26 19 6 51
Minneota 22 23 3 48