Lady Horns roll past Perkins Co. in SPVA

The Kimball Lady Longhorns had an easy win over Perkins County in first round play of the South Platte Valley Athletic Conference Tournament play that began this past Monday. In a game hosted by number two seed Kimball, the hosts won out 63-21 over the visiting number seven seed Lady Plainsmen.

Kimball jumped out to an early 12-0 lead before the Grant club got on the scoreboard and Coach Chauncey Pedersen’s girls played near flawless basketball as they ran the score to 20-2, and led 28-7 after one quarter of play. Madison Biesecker accounted for 11 of those points and the Horns out rebounded Perkins County 15 to 2 in this same time frame.

Kimball went from a 28 point first quarter to just 8 points in the second period and led 36-13 at half time. They picked up the tempo again in the third quarter out scoring their visitors 19 to 2 and had a comfortable lead of 55-15 going into the fourth period. When the margin of points at any time in the second half of play reaches 40 points, the game goes to a running clock in Nebraska High School play, so the fourth quarter went by very fast and Coach Pedersen went to his bench to give everyone some court time as they coasted to the win. This was their fifth win in a row after suffering a 44-42 loss to state ranked Mitchell on Jan. 8, and leaves the Lady Horns with an 11-2 record as they move into semi final play at North Platte Community College this evening at 8 p.m. Central time.

A total of 8 girls got into the scoring columns in the win over Perkins County with Danika Daum high with 15 points on 6/11 shooting from the field and 3/4 foul shooting. The talented 6 foot senior also pulled 7 rebounds and had a block. Biesecker ended up with 13 points after her torrid start hitting 1 trey and going 4/4 at the line. She also charted 4 rebounds, 3 steals and 2 assists. Alex Reader also finished with 13 points on 6/11 shooting including 1 trey, had 7 rebounds, and 4 steals. Arica McCloud was just 1 point shy of double figure scoring with 9 including 2 treys, had 5 rebounds and a team high 8 steals.

Other scoring saw Kate Reader with 6 points on 3/5 shooting, plus 6 rebounds, 4 steals and 2 assists. Myriah Tyan tallied 4 points, had 8 rebounds and 3 assists. Shauntae Daily had 2, and Kailey Dickerson 1.

The final team stats show Kimball with 12 turnovers, 9/12 at the foul line, 4/18 on 3 point attempts, 21/50 on 2 pointers, 23 offensive and 18 defensive rebounds, 23 steals, 10 assists, and 1 block. It was a game of few fouls with 5 whistled on Kimball and 7 on Perkins County. Kimball dominated on the boards with 42 rebounds to 23 for Grant.

The Lady Plainsmen were 0/1 at the line, 1/5 on 3 pointers and 9/37 on 2 pointers. Aryn Seiler, a freshman, led PC with 10 points. Emma Schrotberger, also a freshman, had 6, Claire Maaiiao 3, and Kyla Wykert 2.

Kimball will go up against Chase County, a 47-44 winner over Bridgeport in their first round game Monday evening. As mentioned, this game is set for 8 p.m. central time this evening (Thursday) at the North Platte Community College site. Tournament play concludes on Saturday in North Platte with the girl’s championship game set for 6 p.m. central time.

Kimball 28 8 19 8 -- 63

Perkins Co. 7 6 2 6 -- 21