Lady Wildcats roll to 57-25 win against Minatare

A pair of big runs carried Banner County on Saturday night.

The Lady Wildcats opened the game on a 10-0 spurt and used an 11-0 run to end the third quarter as they thrashed visiting Minatare, 57-25.

Paige Cross started the scoring with a layup and Courtney Knisley added a fast break bucket after a Savannah Jordan steal to get the Lady Wildcats off and running less than a minute into the game. An Ashlynne Hanan layup and two Knisley free throws made it an 8-0 game, and MaKenna Dahlgrin's layup with 3:37 left in the opening quarter gave Banner a 10-0 advantage.

"Getting off to a good start built up a lot of momentum for us," Banner County coach Brittany Cooper said. "Getting early success encouraged my players to keep being aggressive."

The Lady Indians got on the scoreboard with two foul shots and a basket from Angelica Longoria, before a Cross jumper for Banner made it a 12-4 game. Jordan's buzzer-beating layup off a steal put Banner up 14-6 after the first quarter of play.

Cross opened the second quarter with back-to-back layups, the second a fast break bucket after a steal, to put Banner up 18-6 with 6:47 left until halftime. Cross scored 10 of the Lady Wildcats' 13 points in the quarter as they led 27-11 at halftime. She led the team with 15 points at the break.

"Paige came out ready to put some points on the board," Cooper said. "She was attacking the basket every single time she had the ball in her hands; that's hard to stop in high school basketball."

Defensively, Banner held Minatare to just four first half field goals, two in each quarter.

"We were able to keep Minatare's best player, Longoria, from having the ball in her hands too much or getting to the basket very easily, so they  didn't get as many good shots off or offensive rebounds," Cooper said.

Shay White and Cross opened the third quarter with a basket each and Banner held a 31-17 lead with 3:45 left in the frame. The Lady Wildcats ended the quarter on an 11-0 run to put the Lady Indians away for good. Knisley led the way with six points in that stretch to put Banner up 42-17 entering the fourth quarter.

Cross led the team with 22 points and nine rebounds. Knisley and Hanan added 13 points each, while Shay pulled down 10 boards.

Score by quarter

Minatare 6 5 6 8 - 25

Banner 14 13 15 15 - 57

Points

Paige Cross 22, Courtney Knisley 13, Ashlynne Hanan 13, Savannah Jordan 4, Shay White 3, MaKenna Dahlgrin 2.

Rebounds

Shay White 10, Paige Cross 9, Courtney Knisley 5, Ashlynne Hanan 5, Savannah Jordan 3, MaKenna Dahlgrin 1, Abby Russell 1, Sierra Flores 1.

Assists

Shay White 3, Courtney Knisley 1.

Steals

Courtney Knisley 5, Ashlynne Hanan 5, Savannah Jordan 3, Paige Cross 3, MaKenna Dahlgrin 3, Shay White 2.

Crawford 76, Banner County 28

A tough second quarter put Banner behind for good in a 76-28 loss at Crawford last Friday.

The Lady Wildcats trailed just 17-14 after the first quarter, but Crawford (12-2) outscored them 25-4 in the second frame for a 42-18 halftime lead.

Dahlgrin led the team with eight points and six rebounds, while Hanan and Cross had seven points each. Jordan led the way with three steals.

Score by quarter

Banner 14 4 3 7 - 28

Crawford 17 25 21 13 - 76

Points

MaKenna Dahlgrin 8, Ashlynne Hanan 7, Paige Cross 7, Shay White 4, Savannah Jordan 2.

Rebounds

MaKenna Dahlgrin 6, Paige Cross 2, Shay White 1.

Steals

Savannah Jordan 3, Courtney Knisley 2, Ashlynne Hanan 2, MaKenna Dahlgrin 2, Shay White 1.