New Ulm Sports Central - Preserving and Sharing New Ulm Area Sports History

Babinec nets her 1,000th point

Posted New Ulm Journal Website February 2, 2011 - By Michael Gassett Journal Sports Writer

NEW ULM - Erica Babinec knew Tuesday could be the night she scored her 1,000th point. She didn't know until afterward that she did it. There were more important things to worry about - like the fact Martin Luther College just knocked off arch-rival Bethany Lutheran College 69-59 in women's basketball. "This is just an amazing feeling,"Babinec said of beating the Knights' top rival. "We knew we had to win this game in order to be in the race for the conference tournament. This is a great win for us." Babinec came in to the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference battle needing just 20 points to hit 1,000 points for her career. "I knew she was close,"MLC coach Larry Czer said."It was nice that she got it at home and it was against Bethany, so that's even better." It didn't look like she was going to get it. Saddled with foul trouble for most of the game, Babinec had just seven points in 11 minutes played in the first half. Then she turned things on. She scored the Knights' first 10 points of the second half but was again forced to the bench with foul trouble needing just three more points. She finally got it on a free throw with 1:28 to play. "It was a total team effort tonight," Babinec said."People were getting good screens for me and passing to me, it was a whole team effort it wasn't just me out there." While Babinec was nursing foul trouble on the bench, her teammates were doing just fine holding down a team that had beaten them by 24 points in early January. "We had players that played huge minutes for us off the bench tonight," Czer said. "They really raised their level of play tonight." The Knights never trailed and built an early eight-point lead on a Sarah Pederson basket with 14 minutes to play in the opening half. MLC kept Bethany at bay for most of the half but the Vikings made a run and cut the deficit to 25-22 on a Amanda Edminson basket with 5:30 to play. Sarah Free hit a pair of free throws to extend the lead but a free throw by Jessica Englund and a basket by Anna Cepek cut the lead to 27-25 with 3:14 to play. Brittney Gossen scored five straight points for the Knights to build the lead 32-25 and Amanda Selle nailed a 3-pointer to give MLC its biggest lead up to that point at 35-25. Bethany scored the final four points and MLC took a 35-31 lead into the half. The second half is were Babinec took over. She scored the Knights first 10 points and MLC had a 45-36 lead with 16 minutes to play in the game. "That was a huge lift for us in the second half," Czer said.?"That extended the lead and didn't let them close the gap right away. It gave us some breathing room and room to substitute." Edminson got the Vikings as close as with 13:18 to play but the Knights were able to build the lead back up to double digits when Johannah Crass completed a three-point play. Bethany made one last run at MLC and cut the deficit to 61-56 with two minutes to go but the Knights hit eight of 11 free throws in the final minute and a half to seal the win. This was a big win for the Knights as they now are tied with the Vikings for third place at 4-4 in the conference. Joining them at 4-4 is St. Scholastica and Northland. Scholastica beat Northland 66-56 Tuesday. It was also, obviously, a big game for Babinec. She already ranks second on MLC's career points list trailing just her sister, Emma Babinec with 1,551. "That's just really cool," the younger Babinec said.?"I always looked up to her when I was younger and playing basketball. It's just amazing, I never thought I would be that close to her at all." Czer has had a front-row see the whole time. "I've coached all three Babinecs so it's been fun to watch them play," he said about the two and their other sister Lissa. "They are all really hard workers and they are team players. They do what they need to do for the team." Englund led the way for Bethany with 23 points and 11 rebounds. Nicole Jones had eight points, 11 rebounds and four assists. Cepek scored 14 points. Babinec scored 20 points for MLC and had six rebounds. Gossen had 12 points, four steals and eight rebounds off the bench. Free scored 15 points and had five points. Crass had six rebounds off the bench. The Knights have a tough game of Friday when they face Minnesota-Morris, which sits on top of the UMAC at 8-0. "This is good momentum for us, " Babinec said. "But Morris is a tough, tough team. We have a lot of things to work on this week." BLC (59) Meyer 1-3 0-2 2, Englund 4-16 15-20 23, Jones 4-10 0-2 8, Ammann 1-2 0-2 3, Cepek 6-10 2-2 14, Schrupp 0-0 0-0 0, Edminson 4-13 1-1 9, Loduha 0-1 0-0 0, Pipal 0-3 0-0 0. Totals 20-58 18-28 59. MLC (69) Selle 4-8 0-0 10, Boldt 1-9 0-0 2, Gardner 1-2 0-0 3, Free 3-9 7-9 15, Babinec 8-13 3-4 20, Drake 0-4 0-0 0, Gossen 3-6 6-14 12, Fuerstenberg 0-2 0-0 0, Pederson 1-1 0-0 2, Crass 2-2 1-4 5. Totals 23-56 17-31 69 Halftime - MLC 35, BLC 31. Fouled Out -MLC (Boldt). BLC (Englund). Rebounds - BLC 46 (Englund 11, Jones 11) MLC 37 (Gossen 8). Assists - BLC 10 (Jones 4). MLC 14 (Free 5). Total Fouls - BLC 22, MLC 23)