Russell Girls Open Season with Win at Stockton

The Russell High School girls basketball team opened the 2021-2022 season on Friday, December 3 with a 65-44 win at Stockton.

Both teams started slow and Russell led 9-8 after one quarter. The Lady Broncos pulled away in the second period and held a 27-18 advantage at the break. Russell built its lead to 42-30 after three frames and pulled away even more in the final quarter, winning by 21 points.

Senior Rylan Reeves led Russell with 18 points. Senior Aniya Stierlen followed with 11 points, 12 rebounds and two blocks. Senior Camille Dortland also scored 11 points. And freshman Tionna Napue scored 10 points in her debut. In all, 12 Lady Broncos played and eight scored.

Stockton's senior Olivia Dix led all players with 25 points and 13 boards. Junior Kaelyn Means followed with 17 points for the Lady Tigers.

Stockton outrebounded Russell 34 to 30, but Russell outrebounded Stockton 20 to 12 on the offensive glass.

Turnovers were a huge problem for Stockton. The Lady Tigers committed 39 turnovers, while the Lady Broncos had just 15.

Both teams attempted quite a few free throws as well. Russell was 18-of-29 from the foul line, while Stockton was 16-of-25 from the charity stripe.

Russell improves to 1-0 overall and 1-0 in the Mid-Continent League.

It's a quick turnaround for the Russell girls as they next host Ellsworth on Monday, December 6 in the first round of the Amos Morris Classic basketball tournament in Russell. Tipoff is scheduled for 6:30 PM at Amos Morris Gym with the Russell boys also playing Ellsworth at 8:15 PM.

It will be the first game of the season for the Russell boys as their game against Stockton scheduled for December 3 was canceled due to Stockton not fielding a team this season.

Catch both games on Monday on KRSL AM 990, 98.1 FM and KRSL.com.