Kimball Girls Fourth at WTC Tourney

The Kimball High girls finished fourth in the Western Trails Conference Tournament this past weekend leaving them with a record of 12 and 8 heading into the final weekend of regulation play before they move into sub-district play on Tuesday.

The Lady Longhorns opened first round play on the home court seeded #3 and handled #6 Bayard in fine fashion winning 47-27. In Friday night semi final action at Cougar Palace, Kimball fell to Mitchell, the #2 seed, 39-31, and then on Saturday in the battle for consolation honors, they lost to the #1 seed Hemingford 61-47.

Kimball got out to a good start against Bayard with Kelly Green getting the action started with a rebound put-back and Kimball rolled to a 14-5 first quarter lead. The two teams battled even in the second period with Kimball on top 22-12 at half time. The home town girls controlled the contest the second half as they coasted to the 20 point win. Coach Chauncey Pedersen said "We came out and played strong at the start and played well overall. We didn't shoot free throws very well and we have been doing a pretty good job in that department. I thought our girls off the bench did a good job for us."

Danika Daum led Kimball scoring with 14 points, pulled 8 rebounds, had 3 steals and 1 block. Kelly Green finished with 13 points including 3 treys. Madison Biesecker had 6 points plus 5 rebounds, a steal and an assist. Shelby Vogel also had 6 points, Laura Flores and Arica McCloud both 3, and Jessica Hanks 2. In team stats, as coach Pedersen mentioned, Kimball shot weak at the foul line making 9/23, were 16/57 from the field going 6/23 on 3 point fielders, charted 28 rebounds with 16 offensive, had 8 steals, 4 assists, and 2 blocked shots. They also had 16 fouls and 15 turnovers.

Bayard was also whistled for 16 fouls, were 12/19 at the foul line, 7/39 from the field going 1/6 on 3 point shots, and had 24 rebounds. Megan Stuart led the Lady Tigers with 13 points while Haley Sauer netted 9 points.

Kimball 14 08 09 16 -- 47

Bayard 05 07 05 10 --27

Mitchell, the #2 seed, had taken care of Bridgeport to the tune of 49-39 in their first round pairing setting up the third meeting of the season between themselves and Kimball. Mitchell had won the first two games by 1 point each time including a double overtime win the last encounter. It stayed close as expected with Mitchell winning once again 39-31. Jessica Hanks got Kimball started hitting the first basket of the game on a rebound put-back and followed a little later with a trey, but Mitchell held an 11-7 lead after one quarter of play. Shelby Vogel and Brooke Hager had both picked up 2 fouls. With people in some early foul trouble, coach Pedersen went to his bench and got some good response. Arica McCloud came in and hit for 5 points including a trey, Madison Biesecker helped with a basket, and Brianna Jones and Kailey Dickerson played strong as Kimball out scored the Lady Tigers 9-5 in the second stanza to tie the game at 16-16 at half time.

The starters were all back to start the third period but Vogel picked up her 3rd personal and ended up fouling out in the fourth quarter. Mitchell was leading by 5 going into the fourth quarter and increased their margin to 8 on the final score board showing as Kady Lower had a 9 point final period for the winners.

Jessica Hanks was the only player to hit double figure scoring for Kimball finishing with 11 including 2 treys. The sturdy junior also had 6 rebounds, 2 assists and 1 steal. Arica McCloud off the bench had 5 points with a trey. Same for Madison Biesecker with 5 points and 3 rebounds but no treys. Danika Daum had an off night shooting going 1/17 from the field but was 2/2 at the line and had 4 points. She was top rebounder with 9 along with 2 steals and 1 assist. Kelly Green hit a trey for her 3 points, Shelby Vogel had 2, and Laura Flores 1.

Final team stats showed Kimball with only 10 turnovers as a positive. They had 17 fouls, were 5/10 at the line, 11/59 from the field going 4/24 on 3 pointers, had 30 rebounds with 15 offensive, 4 steals, and 5 assists.

Mitchell had 29 rebounds, 11 fouls, were 9/19 at the line, 14/38 from the field going 2/10 on 3 point attempts. Lower ended up with 15 points and Taylor Peters 13 to lead the Mitchell scoring.

Kimball 07 09 08 07 -- 31

Mitchell 11 05 13 10 -- 39

In commenting on the loss to Mitchell, coach Pedersen said "Again we started well and had a good first half. We had too many turnovers and had some foul problems. We need to cut back on our fouls and quit sending our opponents to the foul line. I thought Arica (McCloud) came off the bench once again and played well as did some of our other reserves."

Hemingford was the #1 seed and had received a first round bye, but were upset in the semi finals by Gordon/Rushville 52-49.

They are a very young, but talented team playing a lot of freshmen. Kimball showed a lot of character in coming out strong after the disappointing loss Friday night to Mitchell. Vogel scored quick on a steal, then hit a pair of free throws and Daum had a rebound basket and Kimball jumped out to a 6-0 lead. They held a 10-6 lead at the quarter break and Vogel had 6 points. Kimball still had a 22-18 lead at half time, and were on top 35-32 at the end of three quarters. If you are a Kimball coach, player, fan, you would just as soon forget the fourth quarter as Hemingford roared back with 29 points while holding Kimball to 12 for the 61-47 win.

What happened? The 32 turnovers sure didn't help. Neither did the 21 fouls with Vogel fouling out again and Heminford shooting 27 free throws. Coach Pedersen said "We played 3 good quarters and we need to play 4 good quarters. I feel we still have our best games ahead of us. We need to cut down our turnovers, cut down our fouls, handle the pressure better, and finish out games. Play four quarters of good basketball". As to singling out individuals, he praised the play of Arica McCloud off the bench all weekend.

Danika Daum came back with a good game against Hemingford scorng 21 points while going 3/4 on treys and 4/5 at the foul line. She had a double-double with 10 rebounds, had 3 assists and l steal. Vogel had 8 points, 9 rebounds, 2 steals and 2 assists and did it on limited minutes of playing time as she battled foul trouble and fouled out with 5:24 to play.

McCloud had 7 points, 6 rebounds, 3 steals and an assist. Hanks with 3 points, 4 rebounds, a steal and an assist. Biesecker with 3 points, Green with 3 plus 4 rebounds and 2 steals, and Myriah Tyan with 2.

As a team, Kimball with 32 turnovers, 21 fouls, 16/25 at the foul line, 14/47 from the field going 3/6 on 3 pointers, 35 rebounds with 10 offensive, 10 steals, and 9 assists.

Hemingford with 23 rebounds, 20 fouls, 14/27 at the line, 22/63 from the field with 3/11 on 3 point attempts. They had 10 players score led by freshman point guard Brooke Turek with 20, and freshman Natalie Gasseling with 18.

Kimball and Hemingford will meet again this Friday night on the Kimball court with game time set at 4 p.m. for the JV games followed by the girl's varsity at 5:30 and the boy's varsity at 7 p.m. A special night for the five senior members of the Kimball team and their parents as they will be recognized prior to the start of the varsity game. The honored five are Laura Flores, Kelly Green, Brianna Jones, Shelby Vogel, Brooke Hager. This will be the final performance on the home court for the senior girls. They will close out the regular season on the road Saturday night at Sutherland with early game times of 2 p.m., Central time, for the JV games and 3:30 Central time for the girl's varsity followed by the boys.

The Kimball girls will move into sub-district tournament play on Tuesday at Sidney facing either Bayard or Bridgeport in the 7 p.m. game. Official pairings were to be released today (Thursday) but Kimball Activities Director Ken Smith was quite certain that Kimball will be the #2 seed and will face either Bayard or Bridgeport.