Faribault Girls Basketball Goes Toe to Toe with John Marshall

The latest Minnesota Basketball News girls basketball rankings do not have Rochester John Marshall listed in the top 20 in Class 4A.

How can you not rate a team with two Division I athletes (basketball and track and field) with just one loss on the season among the best in the state?

John Marshall recently defeated their crosstown rival Mayo Spartans (rated No. 4 by Minnesota Basketball News in Class 4A) and was feeling pretty good about themselves coming into Tuesday night's game in Rochester against the Faribault Falcons.

Falcon senior guard Jenna Wetzel knocked down a three-pointer on the first shot of the game for Faribault and they jumped out to a 8-0 lead.

John Marshall took its first lead in the game with 7:18 to go in the first half.

The Rockets had a 25-21 lead at halftime and pulled away for a period in the second half, then had to hold on for a 49-37 win.

Rochester's 6-foot-2 senior Nicole Fautsch had 13 points, including a couple of threes in the second half, and 6-foot-1 senior Jamie Ruden had 12 points to lead John Marshall.

Fautsch is heading to Kentucky on a track and field scholarship (shot put and discus) and Ruden is going to Arizona State on a basketball scholarship.

Falcons head coach Bill Bardal and his assistants had to be very proud of their players for executing very well in the game and defending the post exceptionally well.

The same problem for Faribault reared it's ugly head: the inability to score many points.

The problem is one I see at a lot of levels of basketball these days. Players have a hard time making their layups.

The Falcons had a number of open layups that would not go down, and the same was true for Rochester John Marshall.

Faribault's 5-foot-9 senior Ellery Akemann kept her team in the game in the second half with 11 of her team-high 14 points coming during that period.

The Falcons had just 16 second-half points and were 5 of 10 from the free throw line in the game (2 of 6 in the second half)

I had the Falcons with just nine turnovers in the game and the Rockets had 11. John Marshall was 8 of 10 from the charity stripe.

In addition to Akemann, 6-foot junior Elana Palmer and 5-foot-6 sophomore Grace Amacher were our State Farm Faribault agents Tony Langerud and Jason Krohn Faribault players of the game.

Palmer and Amacher chipped in seven points each.

Another key statistic in the game, John Marshall's bench scored 14 points and Faribault had four points from its bench.

Faribault hosts a holiday tournament Tuesday and Wednesday with Waterville-Elysian-Morristown, Stewartville and Rockford coming to town.

In other Big Nine girls basketball Tuesday night, Rochester Mayo clobbered Owatonna 63-33. In nonconference games, Hastings defeated Northfield 50-36, Mankato East over New Ulm 50-42 and Waseca rolled by Albert Lea 71-33.