Observations all along the line - Kimball & the Southern Panhandle First
Observations all along the line - Kimball & the Southern Panhandle First
Kimball's Alex Reader gets a jump shot off before a Sutherland defender can get to her during the home game Friday, Jan. 29. The Kimball girls won the home game 65-48.
Kimball's Danika Daum blocks a Mitchell opponent from an incoming pass.
Lady Longhorn Myriah Tyan puts up a shot around a Mitchell opponent during their recent game in Kimball.
A huge win for the Kimball High Lady Longhorns as they avenged an earlier loss to Mitchell coming out on top 59-42 in a battle of two top ten ranked C-l teams this past week. In a contest played at Mitchell on January 8, the hosting Lady Tigers won out 44-42. In the rematch at Kimball, the hosts made sure they took care of business jumping out to an early lead and were in control from start to finish.
Kimball received notice that they had moved into the number 10 spot in the Omaha World Herald's C-l state rankings prior to game time and Mitchell came to town ranked number 8. Coach Chauncey Pedersen informed the girls of the new ranking prior to tip off hoping it would give them added motivation and evidently his plan worked!
"We have been playing so well as of late with an entire team effort. The girls are unselfish with their play and looking more for the win than personal recognition. They look for the open player and look for the open shots. It has been all around team effort that is making things work for us," he said.
Senior Arica McCloud swished a trey on the opening shot of the ball game and Madison Biesecker followed seconds later with another trey and the Kimball ladies were off and running. They played near flawless in the opening period with no turnovers, 7 assists, 8 of 10 shooting from the field, and were 6 of 7 on 3 point attempts with Alex Reader knocking down 3, McCloud 2, and Biesecker 1. Kimball led 23-7 at the quarter break.
At half time the Horns were up 31-18 and were on top 40-30 after 3 periods as Mitchell gained ground, but in the final period Kimball put it away, out scoring the visitors 19-12. The defense was as good as the offense which had only 12 turnovers. Kimball won the rebound battle 26 to 21, held their fouls to just 12, shot 11/15 at the foul line, were 8/15 on 3 pointers, 12/27 on 2 point attempts, had 9 steals, 2 blocked shots, and 14 assists.
Sophomore Alex Reader led Kimball scoring with 22 points on 7/10 shooting from the field including 5/7 on 3 pointers and 3/4 foul shooting. McCloud hit double figures with 13 on 4/7 shooting from the field, going 2/3 on treys and 3/4 at the line. Kate Reader also shot the ball well going 4/7 from the floor for 8 points and was top rebounder with 10, had 5 assists and 1 block. Danika Daum finished with 8 points and was 4/5 at the line, pulled 6 rebounds, had 5 assists and 1 block. Madison Biesecker had 4 points with 3 steals and 2 assists, and Myriah Tyan had 4 points.
Mitchell also had 12 fouls called, were 4/9 at the line, 0/7 on treys, and 19/44 on 2 pointers. They were led in scoring b y 6" 3" freshman Keyana Wilfred with 12, Jori Peters had 10, Celeste Cardona 8, Anabelle Gillen 6, Madison Watson 6. There is a strong chance these two teams could meet again this week in Western Trails Conference play and perhaps again in sub-district tournament play.
Coach Pedersen commented "When ever Kimball and Mitchell meet up you can bet it is going to be a real battle."
Kimball 23 8 9 19 --- 59
Mitchell 7 11 12 12 --- 42
Mitchell won the junior varsity game 44-23 and are loaded with young talent with no seniors on the roster and only 3 juniors. Jessica Cotant, a freshman, led the winners with 16 points. For Kimball, Justine Heeg was high with 10 including a pair of treys, Hannah Biesecker had 5, Lacy Klinkhammer 4, Kaylyn Nelson 2, and Shauntae Daily 2. The Kimball JV team is now 3/7 on the season.