Western Nebraska Observer - Observations all along the line - Kimball & the Southern Panhandle First

A 49-25 first round loss to Chase County and a 61-26 win over Perkins County left the Kimball High girls in 5th place in this past week's SPVA Conference Tournament play and leaves them with a season record of 6 wins and 7 losses.

Kimball was the No. 4 seed going into tournament play and received a home site pairing for first round play with Chase County having to make the trip west to Kimball, but the Lady Longhorns from Imperial dominated the hosting Lady Longhorns, led by the outstanding play of junior Mallie McNair with 24 points.

The Chase County girls found themselves in a hard fought battle in first half play leading 12-6 at the end of the first quarter and just 15-13 at halftime, but outscored Kimball 34-12 in second half play to coast to the 49-25 win.

McNair showed off her defensive skills along with her quickness, dribbling, passing and shooting as she took charge. Taylor Williams, the only senior in the starting lineup for Chase County, also hit double figure scoring with 11.

Kimball charted 33 turnovers and the Imperial club charted 25 steals, and they turned them into baskets. Kate Reader was high for Kimball with 10 points and had a double-double with 10 rebounds. Reader also had 1 block and a team high 3 steals. Carli Wurdeman had 6 points on her 2 treys, Sydney Biesecker 5, and Lacey Klinkhammer and Megan Spicer 2 each.

A positive for Kimball was perfect foul shooting going 5 for 5 from the field they shot 9 of 38 for 25 percent and were 2 of 7 on 3 point attempts for 29 percent. They charted 22 rebounds, 3 blocks, 12 steals, only 4 assists, 11 fouls and the 33 turnovers.

Kimball 6 7 8 4 – 25

Chase Co 12 3 18 16 – 49

The Lady Longhorns avenged that fist round loss to Chase County with a dominating win over Perkins County in the battle for 5th place, winning 61-26. It was close to the score they had way back on December 7, when they won over the Grant club, 65-29.

It was a record tying night for Kimball junior Carli Wurdeman as she tied the school record for 3 pointers in a game with 8 of the long range treys, and her game high 29 points also put her in a tie for eighth most points in a game. She will now share the most 3 pointers in a game record with Alexis Lulf, who set the record a couple of years back.

Wurdeman was consistent with her sharp shooting through out the contest, netting 2 treys in the opening period, 1 more in the second quarter, 3 in the 3rd period, and 2 more in the 4th quarter. She was good on 8 of 13 treys for the game, shooting 62 percent from behind the arc!

Megan Spicer also hit double figures with 14 going 6 of 12 from the field and 2 of 2 at the line. Kate Reader had 11 points along with her 13 rebounds and 3 blocks and got her usual double-double.

Wurdeman also had a double-double with her 29 points and 10 rebounds, and she led the team in steals with 7. Lacey Klinkhammer hit a trey and had 3 points, Sydney Biesecker had 2 points and a team high 5 assists, and Madison Wynne had 2 points and 8 rebounds.

In team stats, Kimball shot 36 percent from the field going 23 of 64, including 8 of 23 on 3 point attempts, and were 7 of 14 at the line for 50 percent. They were strong on the boards with 43 rebounds, had 5 blocked shots, 17 steals, 15 assists, 14 fouls, and 20 turnovers.

A tough weekend for the Kimball girls is upcoming as they travel to Sutherland Friday night for JV games beginning at 2 p.m. followed by the girls varsity at 3:30 and boys varsity at 5. Saturday night they are at home, hosting the SPVA girl's tournament champion St. Pats club with JV game time at 2 p.m. followed by the girls and boys varsity games.

Kimball 18 6 20 17 – 61

Perkins Co. 8 9 7 2 – 26