Hemingford girls win WTC; Kimball finishes fourth

The number 4 seed Kimball girls had an easy first round win over number 5 seed Bridgeport winning 70-46 in a game played at Kimball, but then fell to number 1 seed Mitchell in semi final play 52-40 and lost to Gordon-Rushville 67-49 in the consolation game for third place honors. Hemingford, the number 2 seed, won over Mitchell in the title game 43-40.

Coach Chauncey Pedersen had some sickness on his squad in the opening game with Arica McCloud a no-show and Jessica Hanks missing the morning session of school staying home sick, but coming back in the afternoon and playing well despite her illness.

The Kimball girls were sharp from long range as they canned 10 treys on the night out of 21 attempts. Kailey Dickerson had 3, and 10 points, Madison Biesecker 3 and 14 points, Alex Reader 2 and 9 points, Jessica Hanks 1 with 9 points, and Danika Daum 1 with a team high 20 points. Myriah Tyan finished with 4 points as did Jannel Fiehtner.

Kimball got out to a 13-9 first quarter lead with Reader hitting back to back treys. At half time the Lady Horns led 29-20 and already had 6 treys in the books. Kailey Dickerson pretty much put the game on ice when she came out to start the second half and nailed 3 consecutive 3 pointers and Kimball went on to outscore the visitors 25-7 to lead 54-27 going into the final period of play.

Along with the 10/21 3 point shooting, Kimball was 12/30 on 2 point field goals and a very good 16/19 at the foul line with Miss Daum going 7/8 from the charity stripe. Kimball had 9 offensive and 20 defensive rebounds with Hanks and Daum both charted with 8 rebounds each. Reader had 4 assists and Fiehtner was high in steals with 5. As a team, Kimball had 12 steals, 13 assists, 23 fouls and 19 turnovers.

Bridgeport had 32 rebounds, 18 fouls, was 10/23 at the line, 17/60 from the field going 2/7 on 3 point tries. They were led in scoring by Ashley Weborg with 14, Megan Dudden 9, Kassidy Kildow 8, Olga Aguilar 6, Cassidy Mitchell 5, and Karina Garza 4.

Score by quarter

Kimball 13 16 25 16 - 70

Bridgeport 9 11 7 19 - 46

The Kimball girls were meeting number 1 seed Mitchell for the third time this season and have played them tough every time but have not been able to secure a win over the Lady Tigers. Kimball got out to a good start leading 9-6 at the quarter break, but trailed 21-16 at half time and 35-29 going into the final quarter. Their sharp shooting eyes from the night before was gone as they went 10/20 at the foul line, 3/20 on 2 point field goals and 8/25 from 3 point range. They were out rebounded 34 to 21 with only 5 offensive boards, all in the final period, and 16 defensive boards. They had 8 steals, 6 assists and 1 blocked shot along with 18 fouls and 10 turnovers.

Daum led Kimball with 19 points hitting on 3 of 7 treys and had 6 rebounds, 2 steals, 1 assists and 1 block. Hanks and Reader both finished with 8 points and both had 2 treys. Biesecker had 3 points with a trey and pulled 8 rebounds and dished 4 assists to lead in both categories. Dickerson rounded out Kimball scoring with her 2.

Mitchell not only beat Kimball soundly on the boards, but also shot better percentages going 10/16 at the line, 12/36 on 2 point field goals and 6/14 on 3 pointers.

They were led in scoring by Celeste Cardona with 19, Aspen Reifschneider 11, Jori Peters 8, McKenna Zulkoski 7, Kady Lower 5, and Kaitlynn Hessler 2.

Score by quarter

Kimball 9 7 13 11 - 40

Mitchell 6 15 14 17 - 52

Josie Perez and her Gordon-Rushville team mates were too much for Kimball in the Saturday consolation finals as the young sophomore poured in 31 points to lead the Lady Mustangs to victory.

Kimball had 3 players in double figure scoring with Daum high again with 19 connecting on 3 treys and going 4/5 at the line. She had a double-double with 12 rebounds. Hanks had 15 points with a trey, had 8 rebounds and 3 steals. Biesecker had 10 points with 2 treys, 4 rebounds and 2 steals. Reader had 3 points on her trey, and Tyan 2.

As a team, Kimball shot 10/17 at the line, 9/35 on 2 point field goals, 7/32 on 3 pointers, had 16 offensive and 15 defensive rebounds, 7 steals, 8 assists, 19 fouls, and 12 turnovers.

The Mustangs had 36 rebounds, were 18/23 at the line, 23/61 from the field going 3/5 on 3 point attempts, Along with Perez's 31 points, Ashton Sasse also hit double figures with 17.

The Kimball ladies are now 10-11 on the season and wound up· their regular season play at Hemingford this past Tuesday.

They were to move into sub-district tournament play this coming Tuesday at Gering but at the time of this writing no pairings had been announced.

Coach Pedersen commenting on the past week play of ·his Kimball girls said, "We just weren't playing for very good defense at times and we need to get on the boards and rebound better. We will see how we respond against Hemingford and at sub-district."

Score by quarter

G-R 15 16 11 25 - 67

Kimball 10 13 12 14 - 49