Cedar girls top Creighton to advance to title game
PONCA — It was a nice night for basketball Tuesday night, as the top seeded Cedar Catholic Lady Trojans squared off against the Lady Bulldogs from Creighton in opening round action of the D1-3 girls Sub-District tournament .
Cedar Catholic Coach Craig Wortmann said his team was prepared for the contest. “This was the second time we played Creighton and we wanted to push tempo and use our size to disrupt their offense,” said Cedar Catholic head coach Craig Wortmann. “We were able to do both of these and get the win.
The Lady Trojans, donning their signature full court press that has been giving opponents fits all season long, were in the driver’s seat early on, forcing eight Bulldog turnovers.
The Trojan defense, led by freshmen Makenna Noecker and Laney Kathol, held the Creighton offense to just six points in the first quarter.
Noecker, who accounted for four of her game-high 20 points in the first quarter, paired with senior Aiden Wortmann lead the charge for Cedar, tallying 13 Trojan scores.
Solid defensive play, capped off by a towering blocked shot by Laney Kathol, allowed the Lady Trojans to put together a 13-6 run in the first frame of action.
The Lady Bulldogs’ offense would wake up from a short slumber in the second quarter, as sophomore Bryna Fanta knocked down a heavily contested 3-point attempt almost immediately, shortening the score deficit to four points.
Both offenses then took turns battling each other with shots from beyond the arc.
Noecker and Brynn Wortmann took turns firing daggers at the Creighton defense recording three treys between the two of them, before Creighton’s Maycee Zimmerer knocked down her own off a missed freethrow attempt, bringing the score within two points.
Creighton’s Charlize Wilmes and Theresa Corn each took turns clawing their way to the lead with shots made on consecutive trips down the floor, giving the Bulldogs the 23-21 lead just before the 2:00 warning before halftime. Both teams would then battle back and forth before eventually settling for a stalemate, going into the locker rooms knotted up at 25 points apiece.
“Our ability to control the tempo and the boards will be huge,” coach Wortmann said at the break. “We will need to find a way to control our turnover ratio and find a way to get our opponent to keep turning the ball over down the stretch.”
The third quarter belonged to the Lady Trojans, as they dominated both ends of the court.
With a swarming full-court press still in full affect, and Noecker who would record three of her game-high nine steals in just over three minutes of action, would allow only three points of offense from Creighton.
Aiden Wortmann knocked down a hot shot from 3-point land, and then recorded a nice block on defense before finding Brynn Wortmann back on offense, hitting yet another tri-fecta inflating the Lady Trojans’ lead.
Cedar’s full court press, at this time, was forcing all sorts of Bulldog miscues.
Noecker, recorded another steal, gives up the assist to Abby Hochstein, finding nylon with two more points added, and ending the third quarter with Cedar storming out in front with a 9-0 run.
Things wouldn’t get much easier for the Lady Bulldogs in the fourth quarter.
Although Creighton did enjoy a few momentary fourth quarter scoring bursts resulting in a 15-point fourth quarter for the Bulldogs. The Lady Trojans found themselves carrying the hammer, dominating the glass, as they made a living crashing the boards and marking up 17 more points off second chance shots and communication errors from their opponents, before overwhelming Creighton for the 57-43 victory.
Pacing the scoring for both teams was Makenna Noecker with 20 points. She was followed closely by Brynn Wortmann, who posted 16 points, and Aiden Wortmann with 11. Rounding out the scoring for the Lady Trojans was Abby Hochstein with nine and Laney Kathol with one.
“As a team we’ve had a very tough schedule this year,” Wortmann said. “We are hoping that the strength of our schedule, will help us be ready for any team we face.”