Lady Horns finish second at WTC

The Kimball High Lady Longhorns suffered two major losses at this year's Western Trails Conference Tournament canceling out their goal of winning two conference tournament titles this season. The first loss came Friday night when senior Danika Daum suffered a foot injury that kept her from participating in the championship game on Saturday. This of course, hurt the chances of winning Saturday's title game with Gordon-Rushville as the Lady Mustangs, the number 5 seed, surprised by winning it all with their 60-39 win over Kimball.

Gordon-Rushville swept through the bracket in surprising fashion winning their first round game over Morrill 62-46, then upsetting number 1 seed Hemingford 85-70 in semi final play before winning over number 3 seed Kimball in the championship.

The Kimball ladies seemed to be on track to winning it all after their first round win over Bridgeport on a Thursday night home game 67-34, and a 58-51 win over number 2 seed Mitchell in semi final play Friday night at Cougar Palace. Daum suffered the foot injury with about 4 minutes left in the win over Mitchell and her status at the time of this writing is uncertain, but not looking promising.

With their number 3 seed, the Kimball girls were able to play their first round game in front of the home town fans on Thursday night hosting the number 6 seed Bridgeport girls. No problem as they won handily 67-34 and were clicking on all categories. Danika Daum led the Lady Horns with 21 points going 7/9 at the line, pulled 8 rebounds and had a block. Kate Reader finished with 14 points on 6/8 shooting from the field and 2/2 at the line. The talented freshman got her double-double with 14 rebounds, had 2 steals and an assist. Madison Biesecker hit double figure scoring with 11 including a trey and 4/4 foul shooting, had 6 rebounds, 4 assists, and 2 steals. Alex Reader hit a pair of treys for 6 points and pulled 6 rebounds. Arica McCloud had 8 points with a trey, Myriah Tyan had 5 points and Shauntae Daily 2.

In team stats, Kimball had 10 fouls, 25 turnovers, 5 steals, 10 assists, 2 blocked shots, 19 offensive and 26 defensive rebounds for 45 total, were 15/23 at the line, 24/59 from the field going 4/18 on 3 point attempts.

Bridgeport had 17 fouls, 33 rebounds, were 4/12 at the line, 4/18 on 3 point shots, and 9/52 on 2 point field goals. Ashley Weborg led the Lady Bulldogs with 13 points, Brittany Nelson had 6, and Alexis Corman 5 to lead Bridgeport scoring.

Kimball 17 17 14 19---67

Bridgeport 3 11 10 10---34

The semi final matchup between Kimball and Mitchell was the third meeting of the season between the two programs with each boasting of a win coming into the third contest. Kimball used the 3-ball to get them going with Biesecker, Alex Reader, and McCloud all swishing treys and then Kate Reader making 3 straight baskets to put Kimball on top 15-8. A short time

later Kate hurt an ankle and left the court for a short time but came back strong later. Mitchell out scored Kimball 11-6 in the second period and led 23-21 at half time as Kimball cooled off and shot only 1/11 during second period play.

The Lady Horns got their shooting touch back to start the second half with Alex Reader hitting a pair of treys, Biesecker and McCloud 1 each, Kate Reader chipped in with 6 points and McCloud closed out the quarter with a long shot, and Kimball outscored Mitchell 21-10 to take a 42-33 lead into the final period. When Daum left the court with 4:33 to play with the foot injury, Myriah Tyan made a couple of key buckets in the closing seconds to maintain Kimball's lead and secure the win.

The Reader sisters led the scoring for Kimball with 14 points each. Alex was 4/5 on 3 point attempts and 2/2 at the line. Kate was 5/11 from the field and 4/5 at the line, had 4 rebounds,

5 assists, 2 steals and 1 block. McCloud came through with some key shots and 11 points on 4/6 shooting from the field including 3/4 on trey attempts. Biesecker had 8 points with 2 treys, 5 rebounds, 3 steals and 3 assists. Daum had 7 points going 3/4 at the line, and had 7 rebounds. Tyan 4 on 2/3 shooting.

Kimball had 12 fouls and 12 turnovers, 1 block, 10 assists, 9 steals, 4 offensive and 14 defensive rebounds for 18 total, were 11/13 at the foul line, 19/45 from the field going 9/21 on 3 point tries.

Mitchell won the rebound war with 30 total, were 5/8 at the line, 23/51 on2 point attempts and 0/7 on 3 pointers. The Horns did a good job defending the 3-ball as freshman Kenzey Kanno was held scoreless after converting 9 treys and accounting for 29 points the night prior in Mitchell's win over Bayard by a score of 68-21. The Lady Tigers got most of their scoring inside from 6'3" freshman Keyana Wilfred with 25. Jori Peters had 14, Celeste Cardona 8, and Anabelle Gillen 4. On Saturday afternoon, Mitchell fell to Hemingford 61-53 and had to settle for 4th place.

Kimball 15 6 21 16---58

Mitchell 12 11 10 18---51

With Daum dressed in street clothes and wearing a foot-boot on the injured foot, she did her best to encourage her team mates as she joined the time out huddles and pre-game instructions, but it didn't help the shooting woes of the Kimball ladies.

Those long range points they usually come up with were almost non-existent as they shot a meager 3 of 33 on 3-point attempts. For the game they shot 13/62 from the field and were 10/15 at the foul line. Kimball held their own rebounding with 33 compared to 36 for Gordon-Rushville going 20 offensive and 13 defensive boards. They also charted 7 steals and just 3 assists, had 19 fouls, and a surprising low 6 turnovers.

Kate Reader with another solid performance with 14 points and 14 rebounds. Biesecker and good stats with 11 points with 2 treys, 6 rebounds, and 2 steals. Alex Reader had 9 points with 1 trey and 4 rebounds. McCloud had 2 points, Daily 2, and Tyan 1.

Gordon-Rushville shot the ball well going 20/52 from the field and 4/10 on 3 pointers, were 16/30 at the line and had 15 fouls. Josie Perez, 5'7" junior guard, led the winners with 29 points and averaged 25 a game through the tournament play. Kenna Campbell had 12, Ashton Sasse 8, Carlee Hinn 6, and Keelie Campbell 5.

Kimball fans might remember Kimball's 72-57 win over the Lady Mustangs back on January 16 on the Kimball court? Only 2 games remained on the regular schedule with a trip to Pine Bluffs to face a very good Lady Hornet club with only 1 loss this past Tuesday, and a visit from a very strong and state ranked Hemingford team this Friday night, at Kimball, with JV game times at 4 p.m. followed by the girl's varsity game at 5:30 and then the boy's varsity game. This is a big night for Kimball as it is senior Parent's Night for the girl's basketball players and managers along with the senior cheer leaders. It is also Mini Cheer Night with lots of little cheerleaders performing. It is Music Parents Soup Supper Night, and the Freshman class will hold a cake raffle.

Kimball 12 7 12 8---39

Grdn-Rush 13 18 15 14---60