Kimball Girls Lose To Bayard In First Round

The Kimball Hight girls were eliminated from advancing to additional play at Cougar Palace in Scottsbluff with a first round loss at Bayard in Western Trail Conference Tournament play this past week. Unlike the first meeting between these two teams, when Kimball won 51-46 at Bayard, the hosting Lady Tigers dominated in winning 60-41.

Kimball Coach Chauncey Pedersen said. “We were beaten severely in every category. Give credit to the Bayard coaches and their team, they were prepared and we evidently were not”.

Bayard jumped out to a 19-9 lead in the first quarter and slowly increased that margin throughout the contest. Kimball got into some early foul trouble and Coach Pedersen had to sit some of his starters for periods of time with Megan Spicer fouling out early in the fourth period.

Kimball hurt their cause with some faulty ball handling and passing leading to 27 turnovers with Bayard turning some of these mis-cues into baskets. The Lady Longhorns didn’t shoot all that well either going 11/30 from the field for 30% and were just 2/14 on 3 point attempts for 14% and were 17/29 at the foul line for 59%. Kimball also charted 28 rebounds, 2 blocked shots, 14 steals, 7 assists, and 22 fouls.

A good night for Jenna Greenwood who led Kimball with 13 points with 1 trey and she also pulled 5 rebounds. Carli Wurdeman led in rebounds with 6 and had 7 points. Megan Spicer had 9 points and a team high 4 steals before fouling out and also nailed a trey. Katie Heeg had 4 points and 3 assists, Sam Bemis 4 points and Maddie Merryfield 2.

Bayard had 4 girls in double figure scoring led by Hallie Cochran with 20, Grace Burry 14, Rylee Sharp 13, and Jessica Whitebear with 10. Bayard advanced into semi finals where they lost to Mitchell 40-31, and then fell to Bridgeport in consolation play for 3rd place honors 66-38.

The Kimball girls were at Pine Bluffs this past Tuesday evening and will close out regular season play at home tomorrow (Friday) hosting Hemingford with JV game time set for 4 p.m. It has also been designated as senior parents night for Kimball’s two senior players, Carli Wurdeman and Jennifer Greenwood. The senior cheerleaders and parents will also be recognized.

KIMBALL 9 13 12 7 – 41

BAYARD 19 13 16 12 – 60