The Kimball High girls remain undefeated at 4-0 after racking up two more wins this past week. The Lady Longhorns ran past Perkins County at Grant Friday evening 57-17 and handled visiting Morrill Saturday evening 70-48.
A great weekend for the Kimball ladies, but especially for senior Danika Daum who set a new single game scoring record for Kimball with her 40 points against Morrill, taking over the top spot from Alisa Mueller who tallied 38 in the 1996-97 season.
It was no contest at Grant Friday evening with the Kimball players, and fans, getting a look at Grant’s all new college size gymnasium. Perkins County actually held a very brief lead thanks to an early 3 point field goal which put them on top 3-2, but at the quarter break it was Kimball leading 15-3. They increased their lead to 36-11 by half time and held Perkins County to 6 second-half points to coast to the win.
Miss Daum was having her usual solid style of game and her team mates were getting the ball inside to her with some sharp passing. By half time Daum already had 19 points going a perfect 7 for 7 in the second period including a trey and ended up with 27 points on the night to take game scoring honors. She was 12/19 from the field and 2/2 at the line along with 8 rebounds, 3 steals, 2 assists and 1 block.
Along with Daum’s performance, it should still be noted that it was a great team victory, and everyone who saw court time played well. Coach Chauncey Pedersen was able to use his bench getting everyone some playing time. When the margin got to 40 points with 5 minutes left, the score clock went to a running clock.
Freshman Kate Reader hit double figures with 16 points going 7/17 from the field and 2/3 at the line, had 6 rebounds, 4 steals 1 block and 1 assist. Madison Biesecker tallied 4 points, had 7 rebounds, and 5 assists. Arica McCloud had 5 points with a trey, 3 rebounds, 3 steals and 3 assists. Hannah Biesecker had 2 points. Myriah Tyan had 3 points, 5 rebounds and 3 steals. Alex Reader led the team in assists with 6 and had 4 steals. Kailey Dickerson had 3 steals, 2 rebounds and contributed greatly on defense.
In team stats, Kimball held their turnovers to 13, had 18 fouls, 20 steals, 17 assists, 2 blocks, and 33 rebounds with 16 offensive and 17 defensive. They were 5/9 at the line, 25/65 from the field going 23/47 on 2 point field goals, and 2/18 on 3 pointers.
Kimball held Perkins County to 26 rebounds, 6/28 shooting from the floor and 4/13 at the line. Two players led the Plainsmen Ladies with 7 points each.
Kimball 15-21-12-9 -- 57 Perkins Co. 3-8-3-3 -- 17
It took an all out effort from the Kimball ladies to hold off a scrappy Morrill Lady Lions club. Once again, the Lady Horns were looking inside and getting their passes on target which enabled Daum to go to the basket. Morrill did their best to control the 6 foot senior but they ended up sending her to the foul line and she connected on 18 of 22 foul shots. Daum was deadly from start to finish with 8 first quarter points, 21 by half time, 29 after 3 quarters and 11 more in the fourth period. Along with her foul shooting, she was 11/27 from the field, missing her only 3 point try. She pulled 8 rebounds, had 5 steals, 3 blocks.
Other players with impressive stats show Alex Reader with 9 points with 1 trey, a team high 9 assists, 7 rebounds, and 4 steals. Madison Biesecker had 10 points with a trey and 3/4 foul shooting and 5 steals. Kate Reader had 6 points and a team high 10 rebounds. Myriah Tyan had 3 points and 5 rebounds. Arica McCloud had 2 points plus 7 rebounds and pulled 5 defensive boards in the first quarter alone.
Team stats show Kimball with 20 turnovers, 14 fouls, 16 steals, 12 assists, 3 blocks, 16 offensive and 25 defensive rebounds. The Horns were 26/38 at the line, 21/69 from the field going 17/57 on 2 point field goals and 2/12 on 3 pointers.
Morrill had 34 rebounds, 23 fouls, were 8/10 at the line, 11/49 on 2 point fielders and 6/17 on 3 pointers. Jessica Harvey led Morrill with 17 points including 2 treys. Bailee Steiner had 11 with 3 treys.
Coach Pedersen commented “I was very happy with our weekend. Two wins and 4 and 0 now. We are looking for a good week of practice so we can play well again this week. We played pretty well both nights this past week. Danika had a big weekend and set our new school scoring record with her 40 points against Morrill. Our inside game was strong. The girls are playing as a team with lots of assists. We are doing well but we are also looking to get even better. We can always improve. We have a tough weekend but we would really like to be 6-0 going into the Christmas break.”
The Kimball girls have a long road trip to Hershey Friday to face another good ball club. JV game time is 3:30 p.m. Saturday they are back on the bus with a trip to Bayard and early JV start times of 2 p.m.
Kimball 14-20-14-22 -- 70 Morrill 7-16-14-11 -- 48