Kimball girls rack up two more wins

Two more wins for the Kimball High girls over the weekend as they rolled over Bridgeport 55-35 on Friday night and then put away Gordon/Rushville 58-42 on Saturday. With the two victories the Lady Longhorns ran their record to 8-3 as they headed into this week's SPVA Tournament play in North Platte.

Kimball got off to a quick start against Bridgeport scoring 24 first quarter points with five players getting in on the scoring act led by Shelby Vogel with 8 points and Kelly Green hitting a pair of treys. Danika Daum started it all with a pair of free throws and a rebound put-back, and Brooke Hager nailed a trey, and the scoring race was on. After racing out to a 24-11 lead at the quarter break, things slowed down and both teams battled even in the second quarter scoring just 6 points each leaving Kimball on top 30-17 at half time.

Vogel took over the third period scoring 13 of Kimball's 15 points, including a three-ball, but suffered an ankle sprain towards the end of the quarter that kept her on the bench the balance of the contest, but what a game as she ended up with 25 points on 12/19 shooting from the field and made her last 5 attempts without missing. Along with her 63% shooting night, she also pulled 6 rebounds, had 6 steals, and 1 assist, all in three quarters of play! Danika Daum hit double figure scoring with 14 going 6/6 at the foul line.

Kelly Green finished with 8 points, 4 rebounds, 3 steals, and 3 assists. Brooke Hager had 3 points with a trey, plus 6 rebounds, 3 steals and 5 assists. Brianna Jones had 2 along with 4 rebounds, Arica McCloud 2, and Madison Biesecker 1.

In team stats, Kimball shot 7/10 at the line, had 15 fouls, 17 turnovers, were 22/57 from the field going 4/14 on 3 point attempts, had 34 rebounds with 17 offensive, 15 steals, and 11 assists.

Bridgeport was 14/46 from the field, 1/7 from 3 point range, 6/14 at the line, had 8 fouls, and 18 rebounds. They were led in scoring by Olga Aguilar with 10, Megan Dudden 8, Kassidy Kildow 6, Ashley Weborg 5, Cassidy Mitchell 3, Lydia Cantu 2, and Brooke Harding 1.

Another good start Saturday night with five players again getting into the first period scoring act as Kimball took a 14-8 lead at the first quarter break thanks to Kelly Green's rebound basket right at the buzzer. Jessica Hanks got the second quarter going with a trey ball,and Brooke Hager ended the period with another and Kimball went to the half time locker room leading a scrappy and young Gordon/Rushville club 29-22. Another trey ball by Hanks and two baskets by Daum accounted for Kimball's third period scoring, but they held the opponents to 5 points and led 36-27 going into the final quarter. The Lady Longhorns busted loose again in the final stanza scoring 22 points and wrapped up their fourth straight victory after that disappointing 1 point loss to Mitchell.

Danika Daum led the Kimball scoring in the Gordon/Rushville win with 21 points as she shot 7/21 from the field with 1 trey and was 6/7 at the foul line. The tall and talented young sophomore also pulled 8 rebounds, had 3 steals and 2 assists for a good night's work. Vogel was bothered some by the ankle sprain from Friday night, but had iced the injury before the game and had it wrapped. She contributed 10 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists and 1 steal. Coach Pedersen has been trying to get Jessica Hanks to shoot more and she came through with 9 points with 2 treys and had 4 rebounds. Green finished with 7 points, 6 rebounds, 1 steal and 1 assist. Hager tallied 5 points with a trey and 2/2 foul shooting along with 6 rebounds, 1 steal and 1 assist. Laura Flores had a trey and 4 points plus 3 boards and 2 assists, and Brianna Jones made her only shot attempt for 2 points.

Kimball ended up shooting 15/19 at the line,19/60 from the field, going 5/20 on three point attempts, had 33 rebounds including 14 offensive, 6 steals, 11 assists, only 12 turnovers, and 15 fouls.

The Lady Mustangs had 38 rebounds, were 6/9 at the line, had 20 fouls. They were led in scoring by a pair of freshmen as Josie Perez and Kenna Campbell had 12 points each. Ashton Sasse had 7, Hali Sahr 5, Carlee Hinn 4, and Dani Campbell 2.

Commenting on the weekend, Coach Chauncey Pedersen said "We got two wins. I thought we played really well. We came out strong Friday night and shot the ball well. Bridgeport adjusted in the second quarter and we didn't. Our press caused some turnovers. Shelby played well." As to the Saturday night win, Pedersen said "We started strong again. Our second. half man to man defense worked better than our first half zone. We got two Western Trails Conference wins and we are happy".

After this week's play in the SPVA tournament, the Kimball girls travel to Mitchell Tuesday night to try and avenge that 1 point loss. JV game time is 3 p.m. with the varsity girls to follow the JV boys game at around 6 p.m.