Lady Wildcats split weekend

The Banner County Lady Wildcats suffered a tough loss, 60-21, to the Crawford Lady Rams on Friday, Jan. 15 in a non-conference game.

MaKenna Dahlgrin was named player of the game against the Crawford ladies and she led in scoring with 10 points to her credit, including 4 two-point field goals and two from the line.

Though she found herself in some foul trouble early on, the aggressive Dahlgrin also contributed five offensive rebounds, nine defensive rebounds, for 14 total and earning her double double. Dahlgrin also contributed one block and one assist, all without turning the ball over once.

Teammate Paige Cross added another five to the board, making two of the eight field goals she attempted and netting one from the line.

Cross pulled down two defensive rebounds, but gave away two turnovers and fouled twice.

Courtney Knisley contributed two points, grabbed four rebounds, and added three steals and an assist. Shaylee White added two points to the board with three rebounds, and an assist.

Jadyn Cross added 2 points on the board and one steal.

Stolen opportunities were few and far between for the Lady Wildcats, as they were able to grab just eight steals compared to 30 for the Lady Rams.

Additionally, turnovers were high, 44, with Savannah Jordan turning over 13 and White giving away 10, but the game may have come down to the fact that the Rams attempted nearly twice the shots the Banner County put up.

The Lady Rams attempted a total of 63 field goals to Banner County’s 33 with 27 attempted three-point shots for the Lady Rams compared to three attempts from the home team.

The Lady Rams have the added bonus of some serious long range shooting ability. Crawford junior Aly Dane shot and made one trey while teammates Alli Kleinlein contributed 6/13 from beyond the arc and Kaitlin Rudloff made 2/13 three-point field goals.

“We played pretty well on Friday against Crawford. We stayed with them except for the 3-pointers they made,” Coach Brittany Cooper said.

Banner Co. 8 4 5 4 21

Crawford 14 24 13 9 60

Following the loss at home against Crawford, Banner County traveled to Minatare on Saturday and walked away with a hard-fought win, 26-23.

Dahlgrin again led the Lady Wildcats on the board with 9, going 3/10 in the two-point range and making 3/9 from the line.

Jadyn Cross followed with five points of her own, making 2/6 two-point shots and going 1/5 from the line.

Knisley, White and Singleton each contributed four points to the board, with Singleton adding the sole three-point field goal.

White pulled down a total of 11 rebounds, followed by Jadyn Cross with six while Paige Cross and Dahlgrin each grabbed five.

Each of the athletes were able to steal the ball at least once and White added three assists and one block to her credit while Dahlgrin added three steals, and three blocks and Jadyn Cross added another three steals.

Turnovers were again high, with a total of 40 with senior Paige Cross giving up 13 and logging five personal fouls.

“We played fairly sloppy against Minatare, struggling with turnovers much of the game, but pulled out a 3-point, come-from-behind win,” Cooper said.

Banner Co. 3 9 11 3 26

Minatare 3 7 13 0 23