Pirates Stake Their Claim

If there was any chance that an area team was going to knock off the Galena Pirates to tighten up the conference race, they were dashed Wednesday night as the Pirates used their clamp down full court defense to pull away from RR/SM early, then never looked back in a convincing 41-25 victory.

"This one played out a lot like the last one," said Wildcat head coach Dave Wiegel. "I thought we would do a better job of handling their pressure, but we didn't."

The Pirates use a full court 1-3-1 press that repeatedly frustrated the Wildcats as Galena got their hands on the ball, or tipped a pass away,...