Cedar, Wynot girls looking for return trip to State

HARTINGTON — The Wynot Lady Blue Devils cruised through their SubDistrict D2-2 games Tuesday and Thursday, outscoring their two opponents by a combined 116-15.

The win puts the Lady Blue Devils in Friday’s District title game at Valentine.

On Tuesday night, the Emerson-Hubbard Lady Pirates went down under the relentless full court pressure of the Lady Blue Devils by a score of 64-5. Then on Thursday night, the Randolph Lady Cardinal did not fare much better, as Wynot rolled to a 52-10 win.

On Tuesday night, Wynot put 14 players in the scorebook and held the Lady Pirates scoreless in the second half as they advanced with the 64-5 win.

Wynot was led by Katelyn Heine with 10 points, Shaelee Planer with nine points, Michaela Lange with eight points, Karley Heimes with seven points and Whitney Hochstein contributed six points to the lopsided win.

For Emerson-Hubbard, Brianna Bousquet had a 3-pointer and Addison Mackling had a bucket for the Lady Pirates.

Wynot got their running game going early in this one, as they went on a 23-2 first quarter burst. The Lady Blue Devils got seven points each in the period from Shaelee Planer and Karley Heimes, and 3-pointers by Katelyn Heine and Michaela Lange to fuel the run. Addison Mackling had the lone bucket for the Lady Pirates.

Brianna Bousquet drained a 3-pointer for Emerson-Hubbard early in the second quarter, but that was all the offense the Lady Pirates could muster.

Wynot got a trey by Heine and buckets by Autumn Lawson, Whitney Hochstein and Noelle Wieseler as they increased their lead to 33-5 at halftime.

Five more points by Katelyn Heine and baskets by Shaelee Planer, Kaitlyn Heimes and Edyn Sudbeck helped start a running clock as Wynot’s lead increased to 50-5 at the end of the third quarter.

Reserves mopped up in the fourth quarter and their defensive effort continued to shine. Four points each by Krystal Sudbeck and Kendra Pinkelman and a bucket by Reanna Greninger led a 14-0 run to put the final tally at 64-5.

PONCA — Bragging rights and a trip to the district finals were on the line Thursday, as top-seeded Cedar Catholic took on second-seeded Hartington-Newcastle in the D1-3 SubDistrict finals.

Both teams represented nicely with crowd support, it was a rematch two years in the making for the cross-town rivals, with season continuity on the line for the winner.

Before the game HNS Coach Josh Morten said he expected quite a battle on the court.

“This will be a different kind of matchup for us,” Morten said. “Cedar has the definite height advantage, so it will be necessary for us to focus on taking good shots and taking care of the ball.”

Cedar Catholic Coach Craig Wortmann was worried about the Lady ‘Cats speed.

“They are a very quick team,” Wortmann said. “We will need to stay in front of them, and play solid help side defense. Try to get them to take tough shots.”

The contest started off quickly offensively for the Lady Trojans, as freshmen Makenna Noecker fired off a quick 3-pointer, followed by a short jump shot from Abby Hochstein resulting in a 5-0 run for the Lady Trojans and an early timeout to regroup for the Lady Wildcats.

Coming back from the pause in the action, a quick strike from Wildcat junior Makenna Clarkson to stop the bleeding, followed by a missed opportunity on the Trojan end of the court would lead to a touchdown pass to a wide open Abbe Morten for the easy lay up and a 4-0 scoring swing for the Wildcats with 4:35 left in the first quarter.

Cedar’s Makenna Noecker followed the drive up with her second 3-point shot of the first quarter, increasing the Cedar lead to 8-4.

Back on the offensive side, the Lady Wildcats would take advantage of a Trojan miscommunication with a beautifully executed backdoor pass from junior Delayne Sudbeck to Kayden Jueden for the easy lay-in, closing the scoring gap to two points.

The Wildcats then closed out the first period with Jueden returning the favor to Sudbeck with her own nicely performed assist resulting in an easy lay in. Time expired in the first frame with both teams playing evenly matched basketball as Cedar led the Wildcats 13-10.

The 3-point shots came in droves when action resumed in the second quarter.

Delayne Sudbeck started off the free-for-all tickling the twine from the top of the key tying the score up early.