Kimball Girls Come From Behind To Knock Off Bridgeport

Tuesday night’s tense 49-45 win at Bridgeport may have ended with a sigh of relief, but the Longhorns never breathed easy.

Down by five in a game they had never led, Kimball began to claw their way even a few minutes into the third quarter. Danika Daum’s put back at the 5:52 mark and another moments later by Darbi Klinkhammer nudged things onto a favorable precipice.

Deep into the period, momentum finally tipped in the Longhorns’ favor. Peering in from beyond the top of the key, Kinkhammer spotted Shelby Vogel, working for position underneath the hoop.

She fired a beeline pass and, in a flash, Vogel converted.

“I don’t know how I got that,” the sophomore said of an assist she only caught sight of at the last moment. “But I knew we had to come up with a play.”

On Kimball’s next possession, Klinkhammer’s deft spin move in the paint led to two more points. Amber Kilgore then hit a pair from the line.

Despite a three point buzzer beater by the Bulldogs’ Dina Cantu to end the frame, Kimball would not relinquish the advantage.

The turnaround came after a difficult first half. Bridgeport edged out in front 10-6 at the end of one.

Amber Kilgore kept Kimball in play, hitting a finger roll with an assist from Tabitha Unzicker to start the second quarter.

“Amber really stepped up,” head coach Ken Smith pointed out. “In the first half she was a bright spot.”

Still, the hosts held a commanding 14-8 lead when Vogel drained a three with 5:14 to go before the break. Bridgeport’s Megan Dudden answered with a put back from inside the lane. Kimball took possession and Kilgore converted a Vogel feed, banging it off the glass and in.

The hot pace continued as Sydney Faessler stretched the Bulldogs’ lead back to 19-13. But the Longhorns shot back immediately. Taylor Wismer found herself blanketed, so she flipped to an open Brooke Hager, who sank one from three point range.

When the frantic second quarter ended, Bridgeport still clung to a 23-20 advantage.

“Halftime,” Klinkhammer said when asked what turned things around. “We woke up.”

Bridgeport struck first, though, Cantu extending their lead. But Daum fought for an inside board and that put back.

“I was told to go up strong,” the freshman center explained. “That just triggered something.”

In the final period, Klinkhammer’s touch from the line--she was 5 for 7--and critical baskets by Vogel and Daum proved to be enough.

“Bridgeport always plays hard,” Smith noted.