Observations all along the line - Kimball & the Southern Panhandle First

Lady Longhorns enjoy winning weekend

A winning weekend for the Kimball High Lady Longhorns as they won on the road Friday night at Perkins County 55-39 and won over Morrill in front of the hometown fans 67-61 Saturday evening. With the pair of victories over the weekend, the Kimball girls ran their season record to 3-1.

Justine Heeg had the big night at Grant on Friday night, leading the scoring with 16 points and also was top rebounder with 12 to give her a double-double on the night. Kimball had 3 girls in double scoring with Carli Wurdeman and Samantha Bemis both ending up with 10 points. Sophomore point guard, Wurdeman, nailed a pair of treys enroute to her 10 points and freshman Bemis went 4 for 5 from the foul line. Heeg also hit a pair of treys and Hannah Biesecker had a trey and scored 8 points. Alex Reader wound up with 4 points to go with her 10 rebounds, 3 steals and 2 assists. Jenna Greenwood had 3 points and 6 rebounds, Madison Wynne 2 points, 5 rebounds, 2 steals and 2 assists and Sydney Biesecker had 2 points to complete Kimball's scoring.

This was Kimball's girls game without the services of Kate Reader, who is lost for the season after suffering a major knee injury in the game with Dundy County. Coach Chauncey Pedersen adjusted his lineup with younger girls and they responded well.

Kimball 16 14 9 16 - 55

Perkins Co 8 11 7 13 - 39

The win over Morrill was a classic battle with the ladies from both schools putting on a show of long-shooting artistry, with a total of 22 three point field goals put in the scorebook with Morrill tallying 12 treys and Kimball 10. The Lady Longhorns ended up on top to win out 67-61 in a game that was close from start to finish. Both teams were using a lot of younger players in their lineups and Morrill had 4 frosh players in their starting lineup and they appear to be a team to be reckoned with now, and certainly, in the future.

Alex Reader opened the game scoring with a drive to the basket, and on this night, she never quit scoring as she led all players with 29. At the quarter break, she already had 8, but Morrill had the lead at 17-16. The Lady Lions still were on top at 38-37 at half-time. The final 4 shots in the second period were all treys with each team netting a pair. At the intermission, 14 treys had already found the bottom of the net with Kimball swishing 5 and Morrill 4 in the second period alone. The only negative for Kimball was some foul trouble causing Coach Pedersen to have to sit some of his key players, but his ladies off the bench responded.

In the 3rd period, Kimball out-scored the visitors 15-11 to finally take the lead at 52-49 with both teams netting 2 more treys. Alex Reader hit 2 for Kimball and scored 8 more points. The 4th quarter was close again, with Kimball out-scoring the Lady Lions 15-12 and going a perfect 6 for 6 at the foul line in the final fifty seconds to secure the victory. Reader scored 9 of those fourth quarter points for the Lady Horns, going 4 for 4 at the line and getting one more trey.

It was a huge night for Miss Reader as the led her team to the win with her 29 points in an awesome display of shooting going 10 of 16 from the field, including 5 of 10 from beyond the arc, and 4 for 4 at the foul line. The talented senior was also top rebounder with 9 and led in steals with 4. She also dished out 3 assists.

Carli Wurdeman had a pair of treys and 12 points, Justine Heeg 2 treys and 10 points, along with 7 rebounds and a team high 4 assists, Hannah Biesecker 1 trey and 8 points, Sydney Biesecker 7 points, going 5 for 5 at the line and Madison Wynne finished with 1 point.

Along with the outstanding shooting on 3 pointers, the Lady Horns also shot well from the foul line converting 13 of 18 attempts. They had 28 rebounds, 9 steals and 17 assists, 16 fouls and 21 turnovers.

The young Morrill club had 17 fouls, were 9/20 at the line, and were led in scoring by freshman, Llycia Guerue, with 24, including 5 treys. Freshman Jaden Kanno had 5 treys and 15 points, senior Stefani Tarin had 1 trey and 10 points, freshman Jadie Steiner 6 points, freshman Libbie Schaefer 3 points and freshman Madison Mendoza 1 trey and 3 points.

Coach Pedersen praised the play of Alex Reader, along with a solid, all-around team effort, in a contest that was pleasing for the fans to witness. Kimball will close out the early part of the season before the Christmas break with a pair of road trips this weekend, traveling to Hershey, Friday, for games that begin at 3:30 for the JV contests and to Bayard, Saturday, with 2 p.m. start times for the JV games, with varsity contests to follow the JV games both evenings.

Kimball 16 21 15 15 - 67

Morrill 17 21 11 12 - 61

 
 
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