Faribault Boys and Girls Get Close Wins Over Mankato West

The Falcon girls basketball team had a pretty good week going in with a win over third-ranked Winona on Tuesday night. Mankato West saw that Elana Palmer had a 25-point game and 12 rebounds in that one and made her the focus of their defense, so other Falcon players stepped up. Grace Amacher got 17 points, Ellery Akemann had 16, Palmer had 12 and Jenna Wetzel scored 11.

The Falcons shot 55 percent from the field and 7 of 13 from the three, which was a big help since West shot 34 of 37 from the free throw line. Most of those belonged to Lexi Schoper, who got 18-19 herself. She had 31 points for West and made her 2,000th career point last night. The Falcons are at 12-10 with four games left on the schedule, including Rochester Mayo on the road on Tuesday, and a boys and girls doubleheader on Friday with Northfield on the road.

The Falcon boys were tied with Mankato West at 49 with about 15 seconds to go and Brady Combs came through with a basket with no time left to win it 51-49. They are now 12-11 and face Rochester John Marshall at 1PM Saturday on the road, with Mayo at home Tuesday and the previously mentioned double header with Northfield on Friday.