Observations all along the line - Kimball & the Southern Panhandle First

LADY LONGHORNS 4-2 AT CHRISTMAS BREAK

After a loss to Hershey and a win over Bayard, the Kimball High girls go into the Christmas break with a record of 4 wins and 2 losses.The Kimball girls fell to Hershey 57-39 in a Friday night play on the home court, but came back on Saturday evening in front of their home court fans to win 58-45 over the Bayard Lady Tigers.

Kimball was up against a tall and talented Hershey club on Friday that brought a record of 4 and 1 with them and went home with 1 more win.In a lack luster 1st period, the visitors jumped out to a 9-2 lead holding Kimball to just 2 free throws and no field goals.The Lady Horns got their offense moving better in the 2nd quarter scoring 13 points but the Lady Panthers broke loose with 23 points to enjoy a 32-15 half time lead.The girls in blue increased their lead to 49-25 by the end of 3 quarters of play and coasted to the win despite strong 4th quarter play by Sam Bemis and Megan Spicer.

Bemis led Kimball scoring with 11 points going 2/3 on 3 point shooting and 3/5 at the line.She also led Kimball in steals with 5.Spicer had 8 points.Kate Reader had 8 points along with 10 rebounds, Carli Wurdeman 5 with 1 trey, Sydney Biesecker 3 plus 6 rebounds, Lacey Klinkhammer 1 and Katie Heeg 1.

In team stats, Kimball shot only 20% from the field going 11/54 and were just 3/13 on 3 point fielders, along with 14/27 from the foul line for 52%.They pulled 25 rebounds, had 13 steals, 7 assists, 23 turnover, and 14 fouls.

Hershey had 10 players score led by Peyton Messersmith with 13 and Emily Barr with 12.They lit it up from long range with 10 treys, were 9/17 at the line and had 24 fouls with their aggressive defensive plays.

Hershey 9 23 17 8--57

Kimball 2 13 10 14--39

Kimball got off to yet another slow start on Saturday and found themselves trailing 16-7 before closing to 18-15 by the end of the opening quarter.Wurdeman had picked up 2 quick fouls and had some bench time but after checking back in she tallied 8 points on a pair of treys and a layin in the 2nd quarter to lead Kimball to a 32-26 half time lead.Good balanced team scoring in the 3rd period with Kate Reader notching 6 points put Kimball on top 47-34 after 3 periods and both teams scored 11 points in the final 8 minutes of play leaving the home town girls on top 58-45 for their 4th win of the season.

A solid night for Wurdeman who was high with 16 points going 3/7 from 3 point land and 5/7 at the line.Reader was just a point behind Wurdeman with 15 points and was 5/8 at the line plus 13 rebounds, 5 steals and 4 assists.

As a team, Kimball was 20/71 from the field for 28% including 5/20 on 3 pointers, 13/23 at the line for 57%, had 32 rebounds, 16 steals, 17 assists, 17 turnovers, and 16 fouls.

Bayard had 19 field goals with no treys, were 7/17 at the line, and had 18 fouls.Scoring for Bayard were Kylie Stuart with 13, Liz Marker 12, Jessica Whitebear 11, Grace Burry 4, Sierra Saurer 3, and Kaleigh Nelson 2.

Kimball 15 17 15 11--58

Bayard 18 8 8 11--45