Pretzels lack killer instinct, nearly lose sectional semifinal

The primary reason Freeport girls basketball coach Ryan Pierce let the team have it with 6:13 left in the third quarter is because the Pretzels have rarely shown something all year.

Killer instinct. Pierce has told me before that the game comes to easy for the girls sometimes, and that attitude nearly cost them everything last night.

That instinct is in all of them, but this year it's taken a lot for them to get in that mode. The Pretzels can't let that happen again in the sectional final, or they will lose. Badly.

Hoefer was the leader Monday night

Courtney Shiffer was the one who helped the Pretzels get out of their slump in the second half against Sterling last week. Kelsey Hoefer was the one who responded quickly after the hellfire and brimstone speech was delivered, scoring five points immediately.

Pierce on speech and Kelsey afterwards -

I edited a couple things on the audio, one for the questions asked that weren't important, and one edit because ... well, you'll have to ask about that.

Here's an interesting insight from Hoefer about the halftime locker room speech we didn't hear and the third quarter speech:

Hoefers interesting insight -

I can't tell you if they need speeches like that every night ... for the most part these girls do know what they're doing.

But there is no next year for these seniors. A sense of urgency was needed Monday night.