Lady Longhorns Lose To Bayard In First Round

The Kimball High girls saw their basketball season come to an end with a first round loss in sub-district tournament play, losing 58-53 to Bayard, a team they had defeated twice earlier.

It was a back and fourth contest with the lead exchanged multiple times, and close from start to finish.

Bayard had a narrow one point lead after one quarter of play with the score board showing 12-11. Kimball sophomore Megan Spicer had the hot hand early and scored seven first quarter points. Kate Reader picked up two quick fouls and sat out most of the period.

Sydney Biesecker took over the scoring chores for Kimball in the second period and netted nine of the Lady Horns 16 points while they held the Lady Tigers to 10 and took a 27-22 half time lead into intermission. Biesecker was making some strong moves and doing a good job on the boards.

Kimball started the third period with Biesecker hitting a trey to put Kimball up 30-22, but Bayard then went on an 11-0 run before Biesecker scored again for Kimball on a rebound put-back. Bayard outscored Kimball 17-7 in the third quarter to lead 39-34 entering the fourth quarter. It was anybody’s game right to the end as Kimball stayed close but never re-took the lead in the final stanza.

Carli Wurdeman hit an NBA distance trey to close to 53-50, and with :08 seconds remaining, Kate Reader hit a long trey to close to 56-53, but Bayard iced it with a pair of free throws as both teams tallied 19 points in the fourth period

Reader scored 11 of her 17 points in that fourth quarter, and also ended up with nine rebounds, two blocks, four steals and two assists as she closed out her high school career. Biesecker led Kimball scoring with 19 points and hit three treys.

Wurdeman had eight points with two treys, Spicer had seven with one trey, and Madision Wynne had two.

In team stats, Kimball was 22/57 from the field for 39 percent and were 7/21 on three point attempts for 33 percent. Not a good night at the foul line where they shot 2/9 for 22 percent. They also had 19 rebounds, three blocked shots, 13 steals, 13 assists, 20 fouls, and 17 turnovers. Bayard had a good night shooting and came through when they needed to.

Kylie Stuard was a key to their win as the senior led all scorers with 2l points. Grace Burry had 12, Jessica Whitebear eight, Lizabeth Marker eight, Serra Saurer five, Leah Albro two, and Bailee Lake two.

Bayard out rebounded Kimball 35 to 19 and scored 8 more points at the foul line!

Coach Chauncey Pedersen said, “Bayard had a good game plan set for us, and we didn’t help by throwing the ball away multiple times on passes down court.”

The Kimball girls ended up with 10 wins 11 losses on the season and Bayard then upset favored, and top seed Bridgeport in the Sub-District final as they came on strong at the end of the season.

Kimball 11 16 7 19 -- 53

Bayard 12 10 17 19 -- 58