Observations all along the line - Kimball & the Southern Panhandle First
Observations all along the line - Kimball & the Southern Panhandle First
Kate Reader takes a layup against Morrill in the home tournament this past weekend in the 44-20 win
The Kimball High girl's opened the basketball season with a 44-20 win over Morrill in the Kimball Tournament held this past weekend, but suffered a 69-42 loss to Dundy County-Stratton in the championship game Saturday night and are 1-1 going into this weekend's play.
Coach Chauncey Pedersen got outstanding play from his starting five against Morrill, especially on defense, and he praised the play of his girls in the win."I felt this starting five play well together.We didn't shoot the ball as well as I would like to see, but we worked hard and got the win" Pedersen said.
The Lady Longhorns got out to a good start with Madison Wynne taking a rebound the length of the court for a layin to open the scoring, followed by a 3 pointer by Carli Wurdeman, and a steal for a layin basket by Megan Spicer and the host team was up 7-0.These same three girls would each score one more time in the opening quarter to hold a 13-3 lead at the quarter break.The scoring slowed down in the 2nd period but the Lady Horns were on top 18-6 at half time.
While senior Kate Reader was held scoreless in the first half she got into the scoring act the second half getting 3 inside buckets in the 3rd quarter and 7 more in the 4th quarter to finish with 13 points and taking scoring honors for Kimball.Carli Wurdeman hit double figures with 11 including 1 trey, Sydney Biesecker had 9 points with 1 trey, Megan Spicer had 6, Madison Wynne 4, and freshman Kaitlin Heeg had 1.
Kimball pulled 20 rebounds with Reader high with 6 followed by Wurdeman with 5, Wynne and Biesecker with 4 each.Reader also led in steals with 5 as Kimball charted 13 total.They also had 21 turnovers, 10 fouls, and 9 assists with Wurdeman high with 3.In the final team stats, Kimball shot 38% from the field going 17 of 45 attempts including 2 of 10 from 3 point range.They were 8 of 14 at the foul line for 57%.
Morrill was held to 7 field goals but 5 of those were 3 pointers.The Lady Lions were 1/10 at the line and had 16 fouls called.Madison Mendoza was high for Morrill with 8 points, Andrea Lashley had 6, Peyton Gibson and Shandie Hess with 3 each.
Kimball 13 5 12 14 --- 44
Morrill 3 3 9 5 --- 20
In Saturday's title game Kimball went up against a top ten ranked Dundy County-Stratton Team that was listed number 7 in the pre-season top ten rankings for D-1.The Lady Tigers had ran past Potter-Dix in first round play 62-8.They took the championship with a 69-42 victory over Kimball.
The Lady Tigers got out to a 14-0 lead before Kimball got on the score board when Megan Spicer nailed a pair of free throws.Once they got those opening points Kimball came back to trail 22-11 at the end of the first period.At half time they were down 36-22.DCS took complete control of the 3rd quarter outscoring Kimball 19-4 and coasted to the win as they went to their bench.
With a very limited bench due to several of his players witting out the first 4 games due to eligibility factors, give credit to the five starters who got little relief, and simply wore down against the high powered DCS team.Katie Heeg showed some promise as a freshman off the bench.
Sophomore Sydney Biesecker led Kimball with 14 points and sophomore Megan Spicer also hit double figure scoring with 10.Carli Wurdeman hit a pair of 3 pointers, including a half court shot at the buzzer to end the 1st period, and had 8 points.Kate Reader also had 8, and Madison Wynne 2.
Dudny County-Stratton had 28 field goals including 4 treys, were 9/11 at the line, and had 17 fouls.Top five scorers for the winners were Adalene Krutsinger with 16, Jessie Freeland 12, Sable Lambley 11, Maggie Lutz 9, and McKinzie Baney 7.
Coach Pedersen commenting on the loss to DCS said "We did what we could against a very good team.I think we could have made a better showing if we would have had the rest of our varsity team, but I know we just ran out of gas and were leg weary as I couldn't give the girls any rest time".Pedersen will be without several of his varsity unit yet this weekend as they are to miss the first 4 games for school infraction ruling.
Kimball will host Perkins County tomorrow (Friday) evening for both JV and varsity games if there are enough numbers to stage a junior varsity game.On Saturday night they travel to Morrill to go up against the Lady Lions again with JV game time set for 3 p.m. followed by the girl's varsity contest at 4:30.
Kimball 11 11 4 16---42
Dudny Co. 22 14 19 14---69
