Close losses for the Lady Cats lead up to a big win

Following the first three games for the Banner County season, the Lady Cats traveled to Colorado to bring home their first win.

The Lady Wildcats hosted the Minatare Indians on Friday, Dec. 5, following their loss to Garden County, and battled down to the wire before taking the L 55-54 in overtime, in what Coach Chad Miller called an exciting game.

Both teams fought hard with big runs in the third and fourth quarters, according to Miller, leaving Banner County down by seven with just 30 seconds left in regulation play when Courtney Knisley hit a 3 pointer. She followed up with a steal and assist to MaKenna Dahlgrin who went to the line and missed a free throw.

Jadyn Cross had a steal with just 7 seconds left on the clock, getting the ball to Knisley right before the buzzer to tie the game and put it into overtime.

Overtime began with Minatare’s Yesenia Ramirez landing a trey and then another field goal from the top of the key putting Minatare ahead with Banner County battling from behind the rest of the way.

“This great game from both teams was capped off by MaKenna Dahlgrin’s last-second 3 point shot as time expired,” Miller said.

Dahlgrin had a great game for Banner County, leading the team with 23 points, including two three-pointers. She made it her first double-double of the season with 13 rebounds, four steals, and a block while shooting 50 percent from the field and giving up just four turnovers.

Knisley added another 18 points to the Lady Cats’ board with each point coming in the second half of the game, including two treys. She snagged four rebounds, two on the offense and two defensively with three assists, three steals, three deflections, one block and earning just one foul.

Cross hit four field goals and landed one shot from the line for a total of nine points to her credit. She grabbed seven rebounds, gave four assists and one block in addition to her game-changing steal before she fouled out of the game.

Cheyanne Knisley added three points, snatched five rebounds and Emily Singleton put up one and grabbed nine off the board.

“Minatare had a consistent game from sophomore Juana Perez scoring in all four quarters and overtime, leading the team with 16 points,” Miller said. “Yesenia Ramirez also contributed catching fire with all of her 15 points coming in the second half and Alexandra Garcia also getting into double figures with 10 points.”

Following the second of two home games, the Lady Cats traveled to Bayard for their first away game of the season and brought home a 46-32 loss.

Bayard got a quick bucket on the first play of the game but the lights above the baskets and the scoreclocks lost power, according to Miller.

“The referees then met with the score officials and decided since it had to do something with a city electrical issue, and that power would not be restored for another 30-45 minutes, to go ahead and play with the scoreclocks off, keeping the time manually and the score with a wresting flip counter,” Miller said.

The Lady Cats came back a bit sluggish, according to Miller but soon responded with a run and found themselves up by one at the end of the first quarter, 10-9.

Turnovers plagued the Banner County club in the second quarter and Miller said his girls had trouble establishing their position.

“A bright spot, though, in the second quarter for us was when we executed a press break with 3 or 4 precision passes ending with an Emily Singleton layup for 2,” he said.

Despite the Banner County rally, Bayard outscored the Lady Cats 13-6 in the second quarter and ended the first half with a 22-16 lead.

Power was restored to both ends of the court after halftime.

“We still had trouble dealing with Bayard’s height and length around the baskets and were unable to claw back,” Miller said. “Bayard extended the lead in the third quarter outscoring us 15-8. The fourth quarter was a little better, defensively, for us as we were able to hold them to 9 points. We did a better job of working the ball in and getting good shots.”

The Lady Cats shot three for 12 from the foul line in the fourth and struggled to convert Bayard mistakes into points.

MaKenna Dahlgrin had another great night going 9 for 16 from the line and finishing with 17 points altogether. Jadyn Cross was able to convert on a couple of 3 point shots and ended with 8 points. Others in the scoring column were Courtney Knisley (2), Emily Singleton (2), Rylie Mason (2) and Cheyanne Knisley (1).

Dahlgrain led defensively with 18 rebounds, ten offensive and eight defensive, followed by Cross with 8, Mason with 7, Courtney Knisley grabbed six, Singleton three and Cheyanne Knisley one.

Leading the Lady Tigers were juniors Sierra Sauer with 14 points, Kylie Stuart with 12 and Lizabeth Marker with 11.

“I applaud our girls on a well-fought game. One of our players felt ill before the game but pushed through knowing that her services would be needed,” Miller said. “With only one sub we ask a lot from our players and they do a great job of giving us all they have night in and night out.”

The Lady Cats took a day off of game play on Friday and traveled to Grover, Colo., and ended up topping the Pawnee Lady Coyotes 58-29.

“The opening four minutes vs. Pawnee went back and forth with Banner County taking early leads just to see Pawnee’s freshman phenom Shelby Hoffman come back down and either tie the game or give them the lead,” Miller said. “Averaging over 20 points per game, Shelby came out getting put-backs and hitting high percentage shots with 9 points in the first quarter, however, Banner County was moving the ball well with eight assists and 21 points.”

The Lady Cats jumped to a quick 21-9 lead in the first quarter and gained another 13 in the second quarter while holding their opponents to a gain of just seven, ending the first half with a 34-16 lead.

Coming back from halftime the Lady Cats put up another 10 and held the Lady Coyotes to nine and in the final quarter the Banner County girls scored another 14 points to Pawnee’s four.

“The rest of the game saw Banner County taking control on the boards only giving Pawnee one shot each possession and causing turnovers resulting in high percentage shots,” he added.

Leading for the Banner County Club was MaKenna Dahlgrin with 19 points, including one trey, shooting at 43 percent from the field and 0 for 2 from the line. Dahlgrin snatched ten rebounds, had one assist and one steal.

Following closely behind was teammate Courtney Knisley with 18 points to her credit, shooting 53 percent from the field and landing two of three free throws. Knisley also grabbed 10 off the board for her first double-double of the season, added three assists and three steals.

Jadyn Cross and Emily Singleton each put up nine, Cross with one three-pointer. Rylie Mason added two the the Lady Cats’ board and Cheyanne Knisley landed one.

Top scorer for Pawnee was freshman Shelby Hoffman, with 16 points including one trey, six field goals and one from the charity line. Other scorers for the opposition included Jaycie Hahn (6), Rhiannon Mowery (4) and Erin Ellis (3).

The Lady Wildcats are scheduled to play the Leyton Warriors tomorrow, Friday, Dec. 15 in Dalton and will host the Creek Valley Storm the following day in Banner County.