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LYONS — A return to the Lady Cardinals name came with a return to the win column for Randolph last week.
Randolph picked up its first victory since resuming independent competition, defeating former co-op partner Osmond 49-39 on Dec. 9 in Randolph. The win came after the Randolph-Osmond sports cooperative dissolved prior to the 2024-25 season.
The Lady Cards faced a challenging road stretch later in the week, dropping a 55-6 decision at Ponca on Dec. 11 and falling 53-23 to Lyons- Decatur Northeast on Dec. 12.
Offense was hard to come by against Lyons-Decatur Northeast, as Randolph managed just one field goal in the opening quarter and finished the first half with seven points. The Lady Cougars scored in double figures in each of the first three quarters to pull away.
Abbey Backer led Randolph with eight points, while Sydney Robinson added seven. Backer also grabbed five rebounds, with Robinson and Delayne Thelen pulling down four each. Lilly Kuchta finished with two steals.
Ponca jumped out to a 22-0 lead after the first quarter and never looked back. Backer scored four points for Randolph, while Olivia Rayford came off the bench to add two.
The highlight of the week came in the win over Osmond, where Randolph used defense and balanced scoring to pull away late.
Osmond held a 10-9 edge after one quarter, but Randolph limited the Lady Tigers to six points in the second quarter while scoring 12 of its own to take a 21-16 lead into halftime. Osmond trimmed the margin by a point in the third, but the Lady Cards closed the game with a 16-10 fourth quarter to secure the win.
Backer led all scorers with 22 points, while Thelen added 14 and Braylee Kelley finished with seven. Lilly Kuchta led the rebounding effort with 11 boards, followed by Kynlee Winkelbauer with nine and Thelen with eight.
Randolph was scheduled to host Creighton on Dec. 16 to wrap up the pre-holiday portion of its schedule.
RAN (1-4) 2 5 8 8 - 23 LDNE(1-3) 11 15 18 9 - 53 RANDOLPH: Braylee Kelley 0-1 0-0 0; Lilly Kuchta 2-8 1-2 7; Abbey Backer 1-9 6-10 8; Delayne Thelen 0-5 0-0 0; Kynlee Winkelbauer 0-2 0-0 0; Jaden Dickes 0-1 0-0 0; Rylee Reimers 0-1 0-0 0; Sydney Robinson 3-6 1-2 7; Aniston Schmidt 0-4 1-4 1. RAN (1-4) 0 2 3 1 - 6 PON (2-1) 22 14 15 4 - 55 RANDOLPH: Kelley 0-1 0-4 0; Kuchta 0-4 0-0 0; Backer 1-6 1-4 4; Thelen 0-4 0-0 0; Winkelbauer 0-2 0-0 0; Olivia Rayford 1-1 0-0 2; Schmidt 0-1 0-0 0. OSM (0-4) 10 6 13 10 - 39 RAN (1-4) 9 12 12 16 - 49 RANDOLPH: Kelley 2-6 3-8 7; Kuchta 1-8 1-8 4; Backer 8-16 4-4 22; Thelen 6-22 2-4 14; Winkelbauer 0-3 0-0 0; Robinson 1-2 0-0 2; Schmidt 0-1 0-0 0.
