Jock Talk

Other than the fact the Kimball boys were sick, and played sick, at the WTC Conference Tournament this past weekend, I enjoyed a lot of good, and exciting, basketball Friday and Saturday at Cougar Palace in Scottsbluff. I like the atmosphere of Cougar Palace and Mrs. Southard and I took in all four games each day.

The Mitchell girls the number one seed, won the championship as expected, but they had to battle hard both nights to do so. In the semi-final game, they slipped past Gordon-Rushville 50-48, and in the title game they won over a good Hemingford team 54-44. That Gordon-Rushville team, that eliminated Kimball in 1st round play 65-49, took consolation 3rd place honors with a 70-44 win over a good Morrill team.

Senior Josie Perez, set a new school record for 3 pointers in a game for Gordon-Rushville Friday night with 7, and that same day she signed her letter of intent to play for the WNCC Ladies next season. Jessica Harvey of Morrill has signed to play for Chadron State next year.

I felt bad for the Kimball boys, their coaches, and fans as the Horns were seeded number one in their division and we Kimball fans were hoping to see them win it all, but again, a lot of players not feeling good, but they gave it their best shot and it didn’t work out. Like the girls, there were some good contests with Gordon-Rushville winning out, defeating Hemingford 64-36 in the title game after winning 65-31 in 1st round play and 46-37 over Bridgeport in semi-final action. Hemingford had won over Morrill 62031 in 1st found play and beat Kimball 54-46 in semi-final action. Bridgeport won the consolation game over Kimball 52-49 in a final second thriller.

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A salute to Kimball High’s Luke Maas for running the official score clock the entire tournament. And to Kimball High Principal, Mo Hanks, who is the WTC Conference Secretary and was in control of all happenings throughout the tournament, including handing out the trophies and medals to the winners.

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Catching up on some Kimball Boy’s freshman basketball, the Kimball team lost to Mitchell 69-43 with Austin Lulf scoring 10 with 2 treys, Jacob Withrow 8 with 1 trey, Brendan Walker 8 with 2 treys, Brayden Tyan 6 with 1 trey, Sam Cajero 6 with 2 treys, Jaren Winstrom 3 with a trey and Beau Hanks 2. That’s 9 treys in that game and it looks like we have some range-range shooters coming up.

Kimball won over Burns 61-29 with Hanks scoring 17, Walker 13 with 1 trey, Cajero 11 with 1 trey, Tyan 10, Withrow 6, and Winstrom 4. Kimball got some good inside play in this contest as Hanks is 6’2” and Walker 6’1” and we have some much needed size coming into the picture as well.

This past Monday night, Gering came to town and won over Kimball 59-41. Corey Travis dropped down to help the Kimball team against the Class B Gering club and scored 14. Hanks had 10, Cajero 5, Tyan 5, Withrow 4, and Winstrom 3.

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My weekly update on Mike Daum and his South Dakota State Jackrabbits shows a couple of wins for the Jacks. They won out 98-65 over Western Illinois with Big Mike getting 16 points and 5 rebounds. Here is the good one as Mike and teammates won 74-67 over Oral Roberts with Mike scoring 38 on 13/23 shooting from the field going 5/11 on 3 pointers and 7/8 at the line, plus 17 rebounds! One more time he was named Summitt League Athlete of the Week!

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In case you missed the schedule this week for Kimball Athletic happenings: Freshman boy’s basketball with Pine Bluffs at home this evening (Thursday) at 5:30 and the junior high boys are at Sidney for a 4 p.m. start.

Tomorrow night (Friday) the Kimball High girls and boys travel to Hemingford for JV games that go off at 2 and 3:30 p.m., followed by girls varsity at 5 and boys varsity at around 6:30. Saturday afternoon, Hershey comes to town for high school basketball in a make-up game that was post-poned due to weather earlier. JV game time at 3 p.m. for both girls and boys. Girls varsity at 4:30 and boys varsity at 6 p.m. Music Parents’ Soup Supper and Bake Sale to feed you hungry fans.

Kimball High Wrestlers will be in district tournament action at Valentine Friday and Saturday hoping to qualify for the State Tournament.

On Tuesday (Feb. 14), the Kimball girls will be in sub-district tournament play at Sidney in the 7 p.m. game with Bayard. Hemingford and Perkins County will play at 5:30. The winners will play for the championship at 6 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 16th.