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Emily Kirchner scored 10 of her game-high 15 points and Liz Humble hit three 3-pointers in the first half to help Estherville Lincoln Central build a 14-point lead over Lake Mills on Saturday.

The Midgettes' offense struggled to stay on track in the second half, but ELC maintain advnatage to hand the visiting Bulldogs their second loss of the season, 44-31.

ELC never trailed in the game, jumping out to a 6-0 lead on two baskets by Alyssa Johnson and a pair of free throws from Sara Heywood.

When Humble hit her first trey, ELC led 9-1.

As a side note, the game was an experiment by the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union in which the teams played two 16-minute halves instead of the regular 8-minute quarters.

Lake Mills rallied and cut the deficit to 9-7, but a basket by Johnson followed by six straight points from Kirchner pushed ELC's advantage to 17-9 with 5:05 left in the half.

Casey Sievert's 10-foot jumper from the right side pushed the advantae to 10.

Kirchner and Humble accounted for ELC's final 10 points of the half with Humble hitting two more 3-pointers. ELC led 29-15 at the break.

ELC kept its double digit lead throughout the second half with Heywood hitting a 3-pointer with 1:08 remaining for a 44-27 advantage.

Johnson also finished with nine points while Heywood had seven.

ELC (7-3, 3-1) opens 2010 with a makeup game against Western Christian on Monday, Jan. 4.

ELC 44, Lake Mills 31

Estherville Lincoln Central (44) - Macy Dahl 0 0-0 0; Sadie Winter 0 0-0 0; Ashley Weston 0 0-0 0; Sara Heywod 2 2-4 7; Emily Kirchner 6 3-4 15; Liz Humble 3 0-0 9, Casey Sievert 1 0-0 2; Kelsie McCauley 0 0-0 0; Kendall Bosch 0 0-0 0; Allie Sievert 1 0-0 2; Alyssa Johnson 4 1-2 9.

Halftime score - ELC 29, Lake Mills 14. 3-pointers - 3 (Humble 3, Heywood). Total Fouls - 16. Fouled Out - none. Technical Fouls - none.