Lady Longhorns lost to Gordon-Rushville in first round play

The Kimball Lady Longhorns lost to Gordon-Rushville 65-49 in first round play of the Western Trails Conference 2017 Basketball Tournament and failed to advance into additional play at Cougar Palace. The Kimball ladies were the lower seeded team and had to make the long road trip to Gordon in unfavorable weather and road conditions this past Thursday evening, and had to settle for just one game of competition this past week.

The hosting Lady Mustangs came out strong, out scoring Kimball 23-6 in the opening period, and after the slow start, the Lady Longhorns played pretty equal with the winners. Alexis Lulf accounted for all of Kimball’s first period scoring with her two treys, but went scoreless the remainder of the contest. Kimball outscored the hosts 10-9 in the second period with freshman guard, Carli Wurdeman hitting a pair of treys.

Both clubs tallied 33 second half points, but the opening quarter of play spelled the difference. A good night for Wurdeman, who led Kimball scoring with 14 points including four treys. Jannel Fiehtner hit double figures with 11 points, going 3/4 from the field and 5/9 at the foul line. She also pulled five rebounds, had four steals and four assists. Kate Reader finished with eight points, 11 rebounds, four blocks, four steals and two assists. Lulf had six points, Justine Heeg five with one trey, Hannah Biesecker four and Lacey Klinkhammer one.

In team stats, Kimball was 18/54 from the field, going 7/26 on three point attempts, 6/11 at the line, had 29 rebounds, four blocked shots, 11 steals, nine assists, 25 turnovers and 14 fouls.

Gordon-Rushville shot 25/63 from the field, 4/14 on three pointers, 11/21 at the line, had 41 rebounds, six blocks, 18 steals, 16 assists, 15 turnovers and 16 fouls. They were led in scoring by Kenna Campbell with 18. Josie Perez had 13, Callie Shultz nine and Gracey Perez nine to account for most of the winner’s scoring.

Gordon-Rushville advanced into semi-final play where they went up against number one seed Mitchell who had a first round bye, and scared the eventual champions before losing 50-48 in a dramatic finish. The Lady Mustangs then won over Morrill 70-44 to capture third place in the consolation finals.

With the loss to Gordon-Rushville, the Kimball girls are now 5-10 on the season with a very tough finishing schedule ahead. They were to host undefeated Pine Bluffs this past Tuesday, will travel to Hemingford tomorrow (Friday) night, are at home Saturday hosting Hershey, and move into sub-district tournament play in Sidney on Tuesday, February 14.

Coach Chauncey Pedersen, who spent his weekend keeping the score book for the Kimball boys, commented on the loss at Gordon, “We just got off to a horrible start again, and then we played right with them the rest of the way. The long road trip on the bus could have some bearing on the slow start, but the Lady Mustangs are a good basketball team. The Lady Horns now have to concentrate on finishing out the regular season and getting ready for sub-district play.”

Sub-district seedings were to be completed today (Thursday), but it would appear that Hemingford will be the number one seed and will face number four seed, Perkins County, in the 5:30 p.m. game Tuesday, while Kimball is the number two seed and will face number three seed, Bayard, in the 7 p.m. game. The winner will then play for the sub-district championship on Thursday, Feb. 16, at 6 p.m. in Sidney.

Kimball 6 10 16 17 – 49

Gordon-Rushville 23 9 17 16 – 65