ROSEMOUNT — When games are postponed and moved around due to weather, it can be difficult for a team to stay locked in.
However, the Green Bobcats' girls basketball program certainly looked the part of a group that was fully locked in Tuesday evening.
In a contest against a Clay Panthers' girls basketball program that is also out to an impressive start to the 2025-26 campaign in its own right, Green was completely locked in from the getgo, as the Lady 'Cats jumped out to a 19-4 opening quarter advantage, hit 12 threes in the contest and had seven different players score in an impressive 55-17 victory over Clay Tuesday evening in a SOC I contest that was held at Clay High School in Rosemount.
The victory was certainly satisfying for veteran Green girls basketball head coach Melissa Knapp, who was pleased with how her squad came out firing from the outset.
"I was pleased to see us start a game confident," Knapp said. "It sometimes takes us a bit to get settled into our offense and for it to flow. After the first couple of threes, everyone was confident we were going to shoot well tonight."
Taking advantage of a Clay defense that went with a zone look in order to limit the defense done by Green girls basketball talents Abbie Knapp and Laney Strickland down low, the Lady 'Cats unselfishly worked the ball around to get the best shot throughout the entirety of the 32-minute affair.
In the opening quarter, Green junior Addison Blizzard and Green senior Ava Abrams were the beneficiaries. Blizzard knocked down three first-quarter threes by herself to account for all nine of her points in the opening quarter, while Blizzard found Abrams for the additional trey in the first quarter as Green ultimately scored 12 consecutive points after an opening bucket to start the contest by Clay's Sophia Craft.
Green junior Abbie Knapp and Lady 'Cat sophomores Laney Strickland and Elizabeth McBee combined for the remaining seven points, with Knapp adding in four tallies on a putback basket and a fastbreak bucket with 57 seconds to play as the Lady 'Cats jumped out to the aforementioned 15-point advantage, 19-4, after the opening quarter of action.
Green continued its strong shooting from the outside in the second frame — as Abrams added in her second three of the contest while Green junior Destiny Alexander posted a splash from deep, giving the Lady 'Cats a 29-6 lead before Craft's three with under a minute remaining cut the deficit to a 29-9 Green lead at the halftime break.
By this juncture, the trio of Blizzard, Abrams and Alexander had combined for 18 points, all from beyond the line. They helped Green go 6-of-14 from beyond three-point range in the opening half alone.
"Other players scoring besides Elizabeth McBee, Laney Strickland and Abbie Knapp only makes us better, Knapp said. "Those three are obviously the ones people are going to key on. Having more than three players producing offense makes us really hard to guard."
Knapp added in eight tallies of her own with strong finishes inside after running the floor well and setting up the offense alongside Strickland with their excellent court vision.
"Those two created offense for others and set the pace and it was great to see," Knapp said of her youngest daughter and Strickland. "They are two of the most unselfish players I know and they do not care about their own stats as they know those pieces will take care of themselves if they do their jobs. They just want to get a win."
In the second half, it was Sydney Bainer's turn to take center stage.
Having missed her entire sophomore season due to an ACL tear, the junior fittingly got her own just reward for her hard work to get back onto the court by taking advantage of her own open opportunities, spraying home four treys in the second half with three of those coming in a third quarter where Green outscored Clay by a 20-4 margin.
Knapp added in five of what ultimately was her game-high 13 points in the third frame — and added in 12 rebounds for a double-double — while Bainer scored all 12 of her points in the second half to lead Green, who improved to 4-1 overall and 1-0 in the SOC I with Tuesday's win.
McBee scored five points in the second half as well for the Lady 'Cats, helping Knapp, Strickland and Destiny Alexander as a secondary ballhandler who set the pace and controlled the tempo for Green in a nice fashion as well. Alexander and Strickland ultimately combined for seven assists in the game, helping set up the Lady 'Cats for a strong 12-of-24 mark from three-point range in the process.
"I felt we were not rushing shots tonight and we just let the offense come to us," Knapp said. "With the loss of Matti (Hayslip) for the season and the addition of Laney (Strickland) and Destiny (Alexander) and Sydney Bainer coming back from missing last season with an ACL injury we have an entirely new lineup and kids playing together that have never played together before. It has taken some time to learn to play together as a team and I feel like we are finally coming together."
Despite the setback, Clay still sits 5-1 overall as the Lady Panthers are out to their best start as a team since starting the 2018-19 season 9-3. Craft enjoyed another productive outing with 11 points and six rebounds while Maddie Penix (nine rebounds, block) and Emma Emnett (eight rebounds, five assists) contributed in additional areas.
"It was great to get that game rescheduled so quickly," Knapp said. "It’s been 6 days since we played a game and we had a gap of 10 days before that where we haven’t played due to cancellations. I’ve known (Drew) Emnett for a long time as our kids have grown up together through sports and livestock and we always try to help each other out when we can. They are going to win many more games this season."