Observations all along the line - Kimball & the Southern Panhandle First
Observations all along the line - Kimball & the Southern Panhandle First
Kimball High coach, Chauncey Pedersen, goes over strategy with his girls during a time out of the Kimball-Scottsbluff game Monday evening.
The start of the basketball season, and the start of every game at Kimball High begins with the playing of the National Anthem.
The Kimball High girl's opened the basketball season with an impressive win over a very good Class B Scottsbluff team, coming out on top 68-63 in a very entertaining and close contest in the Nebraska Sports Hall of Fame Exhibition Game played at the Kimball gymnasium this past Monday evening. Nebraska High Schools are allowed an exhibition game with the proceeds going to the Hall of Fame committee but this year the Kimball boys elected not to play a game with Scottsbluff.
If the Lady Horns continue to improve over their season opener, Kimball fans are going to really enjoy the season ahead as they put on a good performance in their opener. The game was close, and exchanged leads, throughout the contest. Coach Chauncey Pedersen got solid play from all the players he went to and the only negative was senior Myriah Tyan going out with a knee injury mid-way through the second quarter. Hopefully it is not serious enough to keep her out of her starting role for long!
Pedersen went with an all senior starting five and played 8 enroute to the win. A huge night for Danika Daum who led all scorers with 28 points including 10/12 foul shooting and 4/6 on three point shots. She also pulled 9 rebounds, had 2 steals, 2 assists, and 1 blocked shot. Sophomore Alex Reader came off the bench to score 13 points going 3/4 from the line and 2/3 on treys. Arica McCloud hit double figures with 10 and was 2/3 on three point attempts. Freshman Kate Reader ended up with 8 points on 4/8 shooting, had 9 rebounds, 6 steals, 5 assists, and 1 block. Madison Biesecker had 5 points, 3 rebounds, 4 steals and 3 assists and played hustling defense all night. Tyan had 3 points before her injury and Kailey Dickerson rounded out the scoring with 1 point.
Kimball led at the end of the first quarter of play, but the Bearcats were on top 30-27 at half time. Kimball regained the lead and were up 47-46 after three periods, then outscored the visitors 21-17 in the fourth period for the win.
Aly Camacho was big inside for the Bluffs scoring 21 points and pounding the boards. Chloey Reifschneider was deadly from long range hitting 4 treys for 12 points and Zoe Holscher was automatic at the line and with her short jumpers ending up with 15. Scottsbluff won the rebound battle with 32 compared to 29 for Kim ball . The Bluffs gals shot 18/43 on 2 point field goals, were 6/15 on 3 pointers, and 9/14 at the foul line.
Kimball was 13/44 on 2 point fielders, a good 8/16 on 3 pointers, 18/32 at the foul line, had 21 steals, 12 assists, and 2 blocked shots.
Coach Pedersen was quite pleased with the play of his girls in their first outing but said "We need to shoot our free throws better. We played good defense for the most part but had moments when we let down a bit. I will say that I saw more of our girls diving for loose balls and hustling after those loose balls than I have for a long time."
Kimball held their fouls to 19 compared to 23 for Scottsbluff but had Kate Reader foul out with 14 seconds left to play. Kimball's cause was helped when Camacho got into foul trouble and had to sit some late.
The Kimball girls are back in action on their home court this weekend at their own tournament playing McPherson County/Stratton in the 6 p.m. game Friday.