Lady Horns SPVA tourney champs

Kimball High Lady Longhorns captured the championship of the 2016 South Platte Valley Athletic Conference Tournament Saturday evening at the North Platte Community College Gymnasium. The final score was 54-53! The score at half time was North Platte St Pats 28-14! The second half come-back will go down as one of the most memorable championships in the history of Kimball High basketball.

As reported last week, Kimball opened up tournament play with a first round 63-21 win over Perkins County with that game played on the home court of the number two seeded Longhorns with Perkins County the number seven seed. The Kimball ladies then moved into semi final play at North Platte where they met up with Chase County, a winner over Bridgeport in first round play the Horns won out 54-24 in an easy route of the Lady Longhorns of Imperial.

In this contest, before we get to the high lights of the title game, everything was going Kimball's way and the defense held Chase County to just 12 points in the first 3 quarters and gave up just 12 more in the fourth period when coach Chauncey Pedersen cleared his bench and gave all of his players some tournament court time.

Three players in double figures for Kimball with Danika Daum high with 18 on 6/12 shooting from the field including 4/7 on 3 point attempts and 2/2 free throw shooting. She also charted 6 rebounds. Madison Biesecker had 10 points going 4/7 from the field with 1 trey. Kate Reader finished with 10 points on 5/9 shooting and led the team in blocks with 4 and steals with 6 plus 3 assists. Alex Reader hit a pair of treys and had 7 points and a team high 8 rebounds. Myriah Tyan had 7 points, 5 rebounds and 3 steals and Arica McCloud ended the scoring with her 2 points.

In team stats, Kimball was 21/47 from the field including 7/16 from 3 point range, and 5/7 at the foul line. They pulled 11 offensive and 19 defensive rebounds for 30 total, had 7 blocks 16 steals, 10 assists, 23 turnovers, and 8 personal fouls. Kimball made it look easy against a team they beat earlier in the season on Kimball's home court 57-46.

Kimball 17 7 17 13---54

Chase County 2 4 6 12---24

Kimball scored 54 points once again their next time out, but they didn't hold the St Pats Lady Irish to 24 points! Remember, I wrote earlier that it ended up 54-53, and that Kimball trailed 28-14 at half time with things looking quite bleak and a possible humiliating loss looking quite possible. Not going to happen as the Lady Horns came out of that half time locker room with an attitude and what ever Coach Pedersen told them in that half time break is a secret he said, "but I never even raised my voice" he also said.

Alex Reader got it all started with an opening second half trey, Kate Reader had a steal and basket, sister Alex then hit a 17 footer, Danika Daum nailed a trey and Alex hit yet another trey and the 13 unanswered points closed the Horns to 28-27. St Pats scored a couple on 2 free throws, but Daum hit a 17 footer and then Arica McCloud followed with her 17 footer to give Kimball a 31-30 lead. Daum would hit one more trey before the quarter ended but St Pats was still holding the lead at 35-34.

The entire fourth period was back and forth with the lead always just a basket or two apart. The biggest margin came with just :39 seconds remaining and St Pats leading 51-46 but at that point Alex Reader went to the line and nailed a pair of free throws. Kate Reader charted a steal and fed sister Alex who was fouled and went back to the line to convert 2 more gift shots closing the score to 51-50. The Irish went to the foul line with a one and one, missed the shot, but got new life due to a lane violation and then made both shots to put the score back at 53-50 with :18 seconds showing on the clock. With :09 second left Kate Reader went to the line and once again closed to within 1 point at 53-52. St Pats went back to the line for a one and one with :07 seconds left but missed! Alex Reader rebounded and was fouled and she was not about to start missing at this point as she nailed both shots to give Kimball that all important 1 point margin and the final basket of the game with .06 seconds to play. St Pats inbounded, got the ball across half court, but Kate Reader deflected a pass and was sent sprawling but we didn't need a whistle and more shots because it was over. WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS!

If you are looking for a Star of the Week, it could be the entire Kimball Team, but there was one young lady who really stood out. Sophomore Alex Reader displayed ice water in her veins at the foul line during those pressure packed final seconds. She was 10/12 at the line for the night, 8/9 in the final period, and made her last 8 free throws without a miss. She also led Kimball scoring with 21 and nailed 3 treys as well. What a performance!

Danika Daum who averages over 20 points per game entering this contest, was held scoreless the first half but finished with 14 including a pair of key treys. Kate Reader ended with 8 points and led the team in rebounds with 12, had 4 steals, and 3 assists and made so many big plays down the stretch. Not a bad showing for the talented freshman. Arica McCloud had 8 points with 1 trey, Myriah Tyan had 2 and Madison Biesecker 1 plus 5 rebounds and 5 assists. Easy to remember those big plays at the end that made the win possible, but in a 1 point victory, it takes the 1 and 2 point performances, and the single rebounds, steals and assists to make it all possible. Basketball is a team sport and this was certainly an awesome team win. When you are down 28-14 at half time and not playing well, it could be easy ~ to just fold. I still would like to know just what coach Chauncey told his girls. He could bottle it and sell it and make a fortune.

In the team stats, Kimball shot a miserable percentage the first half but ended up 23/53 from the field including 6/20 on 3 point attempts, 14/20 at the foul line, had 13 offensive and 15 defensive rebounds for 28 total, 10 steals, 12 assists, and 1 block. They also had 17 fouls and 17 turnovers.

The number one seed St Pats who were state ranked in C-2, had 25 rebounds, 21 fouls, shot 12/17 at the line, 18/52 from the field including 5/21 on 3 pointers. The Irish were led by a young lady named Peyton Irish, a senior point guard who tallied 18 with 5 treys and 3 for 3 free throw shooting. Kaleigh Kummer, a freshman guard, had 12, and Rebecca Pasquinelly had 8 for the Irish top three.

The win left Kimball at 13-2 but some tough games awaiting them including a home game this past Tuesday with state ranked Mitchell, who defeated Kimball 44-42 on the Tigers home court January 8.

This weekend Kimball hosts Sutherland on Friday with JV game times set for 3:30 – followed by the girls and boys varsity. You fans can enjoy the Interact Soup Supper and the freshman cake raffle. And guess what? Saturday Kimball goes back to North Platte to go up against the Lady Irish once again.

JV game times are 1 and 2:30 with the girl's varsity set for 4 p.m. and the boy's at 5:30 p.m. Mountain time.

Kimball 4 10 20 20---54

St Pats 7 21 7 18---53