Kimball Basketball On To Bayard, Leyton

The 2023-24 basketball seasons continue today, Nov. 30, at Bayard for the Kimball Longhorns and Lady Longhorns after their Nov. 27 debuts at the Hall of Fame Jamboree in Alliance.

Both squads get right back at it Friday, Dec. 1, with a trip to Leyton to take on the Warriors. Their home seasons open next Tuesday, Dec. 5, when Garden County comes to K-Town.

Play begins at 4 p.m. with JV action on all those dates.

Both Kimball varsity teams look to build on their showings at Alliance, where they were outscored in their jamboree openers against the higher level Bulldogs.

Lady Longhorns coach Jaclyn Burks told the Observer that she "saw plenty of growth from last year" in her team at Alliance. The Lady Longhorns lost, 39-17.

"The girls worked hard on defense but we still struggled to put up shots on offense, which will be our focus this year," Burks said. "We handled pressure well once we settled down, and our first half went very well. Grace Anderson proved again that she is a presence in the post and will be hard to defend.

"We played with a shot clock in Alliance, and the girls and I both enjoyed it. Looking forward to using it more in the future."

Anderson led Kimball scorers with 8 points, followed by Addy Olson with 8 and Julia Winstrom and Clarika Hottell with 2 apiece.

The Longhorn boys, meanwhile, were outscored at Alliance, 70-40.

The visitors won the battle of the boards, 40-34, but were on the short end in other statistical areas. Alliance led in assists 16-9 and steals 10-6.

Kimball shot 29% from 2-point range, 19% behind the arc and 20% at the line.

Individual stats for the boys game were not immediately available