Lady Hornets Slip Past Kimball Girls, 51-49

The fans were treated to some top notch girls basketball this past Teusday night on the Kimball court with the Pine Bluffs Lady Hornets pulling out a 51-49 win in a contest that was exciting from start to finish.

It was Senior Parent Night for the Kimball girls and the final game of their careers on the home court for Madison Wynne, Lacey Klinkhammer, and Kate Reader, along with senior Manager Sheridan Magninie. They made the night a memorable one as they gave it their all for coach Chauncey Pedersen and the hometown fans.

They were up against a very tall, and talented, Pine Bluffs team that brought a record of 13-2 to Kimball and added yet another win to their enviable season.

After falling behind 9-4 early, Kimball came back with Carli Wurdeman hitting a pair of free throws, Kate Reader scored inside, and Sydney Biesecker nailed a trey to close the gap to 11-9 at the quarter break, with Kimball on top!

To start the 2nd period, Wurdeman hit a trey to put Kimball out front 14-9, and added a layin to keep the Lady Horns in front 16-13, but Kammie Ragsdale, 6’0” senior for the Hornets, hit a trey to tie the game and then a put-back rebound to give the visitors the 18-16 lead, and the Hornets were up 25-20 at halftime.

Ragsdale, who can lay claim to MVP in this game, added 11 points in the 3rd quarter and the Hornets outscored Kimball 14-8 to hold a 39-30 margin after 3 quarters of play.

Kimball made a valiant run at getting the win in the final period as they outscored Pine 19-12. It started with Kate Reader making a couple of strong moves inside for baskets to close to 41-34.

Carli Wurdeman hit a pair of free throws, and Reader’s 14 footer made it a 43-38 game. Reader then fed Megan Spicer with a sharp pass and Spicer converted the layin to make it 43-40. Leman made the front end of a trip to the foul line to trail 43-41. Ragsdale scored in the lane for the Hornets, but Reader cashed in a pair of free throws, and with 1:30 to play Biesecker hit a long trey to give Kimball a 46-45 lead.

Ragsdale made a free throw to tie the game at 46-46 and Reader was done with her fifth foul. Biesecker gave Kimball the lead once again making a pair of free throws with 49 seconds showing. Dylan Sweeter returned the favor for her Pine Bluffs club to tie it once again at 48-48 with 38 seconds left Megan Spicer gave Kimball the lead one more time making a free throw with 22 seconds showing, but then Miss Ragsdale came down court and arched a beautiful swisher from beyond the 3 point arc with 12 seconds showing to win the game.

Kimball did get 2 more shots to tie but failed to get them to drop. Ragsdale led all scorers with 25 points and had 3 treys. Torri Long, a well rounded outside player, had 12, Maddie Fornstrom 5, Dylan Sweeter 5, Jaden Shelit 2, and Paige Thompson 2.

The Pine Bluffs club has 4 players on their roster listed at 6 foot and two more on the varsity alone at 5’10”. Tall and talented describes them well.

Kimball coach Chauncey Pedersen got the most out of his undersized ladies and the Lady Longhorns had perhaps their best performance of the season.

A good night for Kate Reader who led Kimball with 16 points 6 for 6 foul shooting, p1us 12 rebounds. Carli Wurdeman finished with 10 points and was 5/6 at the line with 1 trey, had 7 rebounds, a team high 4 assists and had 3 steals.

Biesecker had 8 points with 2 treys. Megan Spicer had 9, Madison Wynne 4 along with 3 steals, and Lacey Klinkhammer 2.

In team stats for Kimball, they were 15/64 from the field for 23%, wengt 3/13 on 3 point attempts, and an amazing 16 of 18 at the foul line for 89%. Against that tall Pine lineup, they charted 31 rebounds, had 7 steals, 10 assists, 12 fouls, and held their turnovers to 13. A good night for certain!

Coach Pedersen was proud of his girls’ effort and still a bit disappointed to get that close and not get the win.

“We held Ragsdale to 1 point in the first quarter, but she got to us when she needed it,” the coach said.. “It hurt when we lost Kate (Reader) late, but nonetheless, I am proud of the effort we had tonight. It seems like we are playing our best now when we need to with sub-districts this coming week.”.

Kimball will face Bayard in their first Sub-District game and with a win they will then play in the Sub-District final tonight (Thursday) at Scottsbluff High School.

Kimball

11 11 8 19 – 49

Pine Bluffs

9 16 14 12 – 51

In the girls Junior Varsity game, Pine Bluffs won 55-19.

For the winners, Savannah Norman had 13, Adrea Reifschneider 8, Jaden Shelit 8, Shelby Thurin 6, Madison Loyd 2, Kenzie Sloan 7, Ali Borgman 8 and Savannah Eggli 1.

Emma Martin led Kimball with 8, including 2 treys. Jaydin Paxton had 5 with 1 trey, Katie Heeg 5, and Ashlynn Guzman 1.