Blooming Prairie Awesome Blossoms girls basketball downed by Randolph 56-48 Tuesday evening

The Blooming Prairie Awesome Blossoms girls basketball team played host to the Randolph Rockets in a Gopher Conference matchup Tuesday evening, and in a back-and-forth battle, the Rockets used the scoring of senior guard Paige Ford, who swished five 3-pointers on her way to 29 points, and a huge advantage at the free-throw line to win 56-48.

The Blossoms led most of the first half and pushed their 19-13 halftime lead to as large as 10 early in the second  half, but the Rockets were able to rally with a run of their own to take the lead midway through the half.  Blooming Prairie responded, however, and regained a five-point lead, and although the Blossoms held Randolph to only 13 made field goals for the entire game, the Rockets had the answer with the scoring of Ford and by going 24 for 35 from the free throw line, compared to 7 of 12 for the Blossoms.

Anna Pauly led Blooming Prairie in scoring Tuesday night with a career-high 17 points, plus she pulled in eight rebounds to also lead the Blossoms in that category, and she also added two blocked shots, Claire Schwarz and Shawntee Snyder each tallied eight points, with Schwarz drilling two of BP’s three 3-pointers in the game, Addison Doocy chipped in seven points, Haven Carlson added five points and Macy Lembke swished a 3-pointer for three points in the game.

With the loss, Blooming Prairie is now 4-4 overall and 3-3 in the Gopher Conference, and the Blossoms return to action Friday night in Faribault versus Bethlehem Academy in a Gopher Conference East Division matchup, with the varsity tip-off scheduled for 7:15 p.m. that evening.