BLOOMING PRAIRIE – Coach Karol Hansen’s halftime speech was brief and to the point.

Wednesday, December 19, 2001

BLOOMING PRAIRIE – Coach Karol Hansen’s halftime speech was brief and to the point. It also worked.

Hansen’s Albert Lea High School girls’ basketball team rallied from a 23-15 deficit at halftime to register a much-needed 48-44 nonconference victory at Blooming Prairie Tuesday night.

So what did Hansen say at the intermission? Not a whole lot.

&uot;I didn’t talk strategy,&uot; said Hansen. &uot;The problem was not X’s and O’s. It was just a matter of us playing good basketball, and we weren’t. I just told them we’re a better ballclub than this.&uot;

Then she walked out.

Then the Tigers walked out on the court and showed Hansen how good they can play. They narrowed the deficit to 32-27 after three quarters and, with what Hansen called a total team effort, outscored the Blossoms 21-12 in the fourth.

&uot;I’m proud of the way the girls battled,&uot; said Hansen. &uot;It would have been easy for them to get frustrated and disappointed, but they didn’t. We had a lot of things to overcome.&uot;

Not the least was senior guard Abby Bergstrom, who led the Blossoms while scoring a game-high 24 points.

Danielle Jacobs led the Tigers with 15 points, four rebounds, three assists and two steals. Aubree Page had 10 points and 10 rebounds, Jenny Vanderploeg six points and six rebounds, Amy Ravenhorst seven points and five rebounds. Also scoring were Danielle Rankin with four points, and Beth Kolling and Jenny Hovendick with two apiece.

&uot;The girls stepped it up in the fourth and just refused to get beat,&uot; said Hansen.

The loss snapped a five-game skid for the Tigers, who improved to 2-5. Their next game is Jan. 4 at Rochester Mayo.