Observations all along the line - Kimball & the Southern Panhandle First
Observations all along the line - Kimball & the Southern Panhandle First
Megan Spicer works on her jump shot during a junior varisty game against the Banner County Wildcats. Kimball won the game, but no further information was available.
The Kimball High girls went up against a pair of very talented foes this past week and came up on the losing end of both contests leaving them with a record of 4 win and 4 losses. On Thursday night they went to Sidney to battle the State Class B ranked Lady Raiders and lost 62-23. Saturday they hosted a very solid Chase County Club and lost 54-17.
Heading into the season, Coach Chauncey Pedersen was very excited about a possible run at winning conference honors and a possible state qualifying season. That was before the injuries started piling up and after this weekend he has witnessed no less than 6 varsity players out with injuries, including both the All Conference Reader sisters. Kate, a junior, went down with a knee injury after 2 games and Alex, the senior, who sat out last year after major knee surgery, re-injured the same knee, and is also now done after a torn ACL that will require surgery.
No doubt, Sidney deserves their top 5 state ranking as they have it all, with height, depth, good inside and outside game. They come at you with a very aggressive defense and simply over powered the depleted Kimball club.
No one in double figure scoring for Kimball with Hannah Biesecker high with 8 points. Sydney Biesecker tallied 5 with 1 trey, Justine Heeg had 3, Jenna Greenwood and Carli Wurdeman 2 each, and Madison Wynne 1. Greenwood and Hannah Biesecker led Kimball in rebounds with 4 each.
Sidney used lots of players and there was no let down in preformance as Coach Tyler Shaw went to his bench. A total of 10 players got into the scoring act led by Meaghan Ross with 11, Natalie Radcliffe 10, Taylor Dormann 9, and Janay Brauer 8.
Sidney 19 25 9 9----62
Kimball 6 4 8 5----23
It was more of the same on Saturday as the Chase County girls had more height, more depth, and more talent, as Coach Pedersen has to go to his younger girls to fill out a lineup.
Just when it looks like it couldn't possibly get any worse, it does! The game was called with 4:29 left on the game clock when freshman Jaydin Paxton went down hard and was prone on the floor for 25 minutes before she was removed by Emergency Medical personnel and taken by ambulance to the Kimball Hospital where she spent the night. Her injuries included a hip injury, a concussion along with a stiff neck, and she will be lost for an undetermined time. Kimball Activities Director Ken Smith made the call to end the contest after the long delay with the game outcome already determined.
Once again, no on in double figure scoring for Kimball with Hannah Biesecker and Carli Wurdeman both scoring 6 and both charted one trey. Wynne and Heeg had 2 each and Lacey Klinkhammer 1. Heeg with 4 and Wynne with 3 were top rebounders. The Lady Horns were held to 16 percent shooting from the field connecting on 6 of 38 attempts and were 3 of 11 at the foul line for 27 percent.
The winners had 7 scorers with 6 foot senior Ragan Nickless high with 13, Allison Owings had 12, Mallie McNair 11, and Lauren Gockley 8. The Longhorns of Chase County were in complete control and dominated from start to finish.
Coach Pedersen said "We are at the point now where we are having to rely on using a lot of our younger players, including our freshmen girls, when they really need to be improving their games in the freshman and junior varsity games. We have had to cancel the balance of our scheduled freshman contests." Kimball was to play at state ranked Class D Potter-Dix this past Tuesday evening, and this weekend they host state Class C ranked Bridgeport on Friday, and then host a good Gordon/Rushville team on Saturday.
Chase County 16 13 19 6----54
Kimball 4 7 4 2----17
