Cedar, Wynot girls both looking for return trip to State
HARTINGTON — The Cedar Catholic girls basketball team is one step away from a return trip to the Class D1 State Tournament and a chance at redemption.
The Lady Trojans were able to cruise out to the D1-4 SubDistrict title on their own home court by virtue of two easy wins - first over Niobrara/Verdigre (71-50) and then against Boyd County (50-32) in Thursday’s SubDistrict finale.
Now, it’s on to Friday’s District Final, again on their home court, as the No. 3 Lady Trojans (17-7) play host to No. 14 Summerland (13-8).
“This will be an even matchup. We are very similar teams with height and how we score,” Cedar head coach Craig Wortmann said of the District final. “I believe it will come down to who can get the most stops and takes care of the ball better. Once you move into the District final games, most teams are well coached and ready for any challenge.”
Wortmann said defense and rebounding will be the keys to the game.
“We will need to play our team defense and control the boards,” he said. “If we can do these two things our chances of winning will be very good. We look forward to the chance to practice another week and hopefully continue our success. We also will get to play at home so this will be a big advantage.”
In the win against Niobrara/Verdigre, Brynn Wortmann (24 points) and Laney Kathol (15 points) paced the Lady Trojans, who had to break loose from a 29-26 first half of play.
Coach Wortmann said his team struggled in the first half, but was able to dominate against a very talented team in the final 16 minutes.
“They are a young team that has talent,” coach Wortmann said of his opponent. “They can shoot and want to get up the court. We were able to contain some of this and use our size to stay in front of them. We have tried to be a team that can run and play half-court ball. This night we needed to do both.”
The Trojans started to put things together in the second half to pull away for the 21-point win. See CEDAR, Page 8
In the SubDistrict final against Boyd County, a stellar first half led to a 28-13 halftime lead. Cedar then remained in cruise control for the win.
“We thought we had the advantage to speed the game up with Boyd County, so we worked our full-court press to get them to take quick shots and give us transition points,” Coach Wortmann said. “Both these worked through the first half. In the second half they took better care of the ball, so we backed off and played more half-court defense.
“Again, we used our size to give them problems and force tough shots. The girls rebounded very well, and with control of the boards we were able to stay in front throughout the night.”
Brynn Wortmarm had 21 points and was able to earn her 1,000th point of her career which made for a special evening for the program.
leadership role with great strides,” Craig Wortmann said. “She has been very consistent which allows others to find their way and help us keep our high level of play going.”
Kathol chipped in with 11 points and six rebounds in the winning effort.
Admittedly, the Trojans coach would have enjoyed playing Hartington-Newcastle in the sub-district final, but Boyd County spoiled that in the previous round.
“It was just not meant to be,” Craig Wortmann said. “That is why we are not looking ahead of any games and just enjoying where we are at.”
Brynn Wortmann was pleased that the team took care of business without much let up.
She in fact believes that Niobrara-Verdigre may have been given an unfair, too low of a seed.
“Other than us, they were the best ones there,” she said. “They had some pretty good shooters and it seemed like anything they shot from outside went in. At halftime, we were like ‘oh, gosh, we weren’t expecting this.’ After that we figured things out and finished it.
“They were better than people thought. They had some pretty quick and definitely athletic girls.”
Brynn Wortmann added that the early test was welcome so that the Lady Trojans can stay focused and hyped up to play as the tournament’s challenges continues to rise.
“I am glad it wasn’t a walk in the park right away,” she said. “The teams we’ve been playing this year are all big schools so we don’t want to be caught on our heels this time of the
SCORING
Cedar - Brynn Wortmann, 24; Laney Kathol, 15; Megan Heimes, 8; Brooklyn Kuehn, 8; Jordyn Steffen, 7; Gracie Dickes, 4; Mya Dickes, 2; Elly Becker, 2.
REBOUDNDS
Cedar - Laney Kathol, 7; Brooklyn Kuehn, 5; Brynn Wortmann, 3; Megan Heimes, 1; Jordyn Steffen, 1; Gracie Dickes, 1; Elly Becker, 1.
ASSISTS
Cedar - Brooklyn Kuehn, 3; Brynn Wortmann, 2; Megan Heimes, 1; Laney Kathol, 1; Jordyn Steffen, 1.
STEALS
Cedar - Mackenzie Arens, 1; Megan Heimes, 1.
SCORING
Cedar - Brynn Wortmann, 21; Laney Kathol, 11; Mckenzie Arens, 5; Jordyn Steffen, 5; Gracie Dickes, 3; Megan Heimes, 3; Brooklyn Kuehn, 2. REBOUNDS
Cedar - Brooklyn Kuehn, 6; Laney Kathol, 6; Brynn Wortmann, 3; Cady Uttecht, 1; Mckenzie Arens, 1; Jordyn Steffen, 1.
ASSISTS
Cedar - Gracie Dicke, 1; Laney Kathol, 1.
STEALS
Cedar - Brynn Wortmann, 6; Laney Kathol, 4; Jordyn Steffen, 2; Mckenzie Arens, 1; Gracie Dickes, 1; Brooklyn Kuehn, 1.
WYNOT — The Wynot Lady Blue Devils will take the long trip to Valentine Friday for a District title game with an even bigger trip on the line.
The Devils would make their trip to State with a win over the 11th-seeded Sioux County girls.
Wynot soared past the Randolph Lady Cardinals 53-22 in the D2-5 SubDistrict championship game Thursday to advance to District play.
Wynot raced to a big 32-10 halftime lead and kept the pressure on for most of the game as they recorded their 19th win of season.
The Lady Devils put up a very balanced attack with everyone seeing extensive playing time in this one. Karley Heimes continues her leadership role and took scoring honors with 13 points. Edyn and Emersyn Sudbeck played a steady floor game and contributed nine and seven points respectively.
Randolph was paced by Jaiden Taylor with eight points and Keely Pinkelman,’s three points.
Karley Heimes poured in nine points in the first frame to help the Lady Blue Devils to a 12-6 lead. Jaiden Taylor had four points for Randolph.
In the second quarter Edyn Sudbeck took over the hot hand tallying nine points in the period. Krystal Sudbeck and Amy Tramp each connected from the field, as well. Randolph was held to a pair of baskets and trailed 32-10 at halftime.
In the third quarter Randolph got buckets from Jaiden Taylor and Emmalee Harder but Wynot kept the pressure on thanks in part to a 3-pointer by Emersyn Sudbeck and baskets by Kinslee Heimes, Kayla Pinkelman, Kendra Pinkelman and Amy Tramp as they increased the margin to 47-16.
Reserves then mopped up. The Lady Cards got baskets by Erin Engel, Grace Nordhues and Natalie Munter. Wynot countered with buckets by Allison Wieseler and Krystal Sudbeck.
SCORING Wynot- Karley Heimes, 13; Edyn Sudbeck, 9; Emersyn Sudbeck, 7; Amy Tramp, 4, Kayla Pinkelman, 4; Krystal Sudbeck, 4; Kinslee Heimes, 3; Amber Lawson, 2; Allison Wieseler, 2; Kendra Pinkelman, 2; Autumn Lawson, 2; Lauren Haberman, 1.
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