Kimball junior high basketball season wrap-up

The Kimball junior high girl’s basketball season has come to a successful end, according to coaches Michelle Daum and Danielle Reader.

The seventh grade “A” team finished their season with a record of 3-5, beating Mitchell on Thursday, Dec. 8 before taking a 14-51 loss against Sidney on Saturday, Dec. 10.

Leading the young team on the board against Mitchell was Payton Wise with a whopping 19 points, followed by Maddie Merryfield with seven and Chantel Malson and Sarinda Bateman with two points each.

The “B” team also won on Thursday 9-5, with Caelyn Long and Mariana Cajero each earning four points for the Kimball team and Reese Spalding adding one.

In Saturday’s “A” game loss to Sidney, Malson led the seventh grade with six points on the board, followed by Merryfield with four, Wise and Tianna Stirewalt with two each.

The seventh-grade “B” team tied against Sidney, 8-8, with Anissa Kizzair in the lead on the Kimball board with four points, Spalding and Brandi Councilman with two each.

Coach Reader said that she was proud of all of these girls and the efforts made. She saw a lot of improvement with this young group.

The eighth-grade team finished their season with an excellent 7-1 record, according to Daum, winning their final two games of the season.

Kimball beat out Mitchell on Thursday 33-23, led by Megan Spicer with 14 on the board, followed by Sydney Biesecker with six, Sammie Bemis and Brooklyn Golding with four each, Emma Martin with three and Jaydin Paxton with two.

They won over Sidney on Saturday 42-41. Bemis led the close game with 16 points and Martin earned 12. Spicer followed with seven, Biesecker with five and Raven Johnson with two.

“This was a very exciting way to end our season with a win over Sidney. The girls played hard over a very tall Sidney team. They simply never gave up and kept their composure right down to the last second,” Daum said. “I’m excited to hand this group off to Coach Pederson next year. They are going to be an exciting team to watch. Because of Sidney’s size, the girls got the chance to show off their outside shooting skills and Sammie Bemis and Emma Martin put on a shooting show. Megan Spicer continued to be solid on both the defensive and offensive end and kept this team in check all season long. Sidney Biesecker did a great job at being aggressive on the offensive and defensive boards and Brooklyn Golding also came in and was a solid contributor. Raven Johnson and Jaydin Paxton, shared a lot of time this season and both proved to be competitors and calm in stressful situations.”

Coaches Daum and Reader thanked all the parents for their constant support throughout the season and shared their praise for the athletes.

“This was a wonderful season and both Coach Reader and I really enjoyed this entire team! We look forward to seeing what this group does next year!” she added.