HNS Lady Wildcats lose a heart-breaker to Randolph; fall hard at Homer

HARTINGTON — A team with a mix of young and old have found that putting together the right chemistry on a basketball court is similar to the difference in ages with a freshman compared to a senior.

The Hartington-Newcastle girls basketball team fell to 5-8 overall with two tough losses last week, dropping a 33-31 decision at home against Randolph and Saturday’s 61-32 defeat at Homer.

In the loss to Randolph, the Lady Wildcats were led by Alivia Morten’s 10 points and six rebounds while Kayden Jueden added eight points and eight rebounds as the team shot only 18 percent from the field in the defeat.

At Homer, the hosts blew out to a 17-5 lead after the first quarter and 30-11 by halftime to cruise to the victory.

Jueden finished with 13 points and seven rebounds while Morten added nine points and Keanna Korth snared seven additional rebounds.

“We had the lead throughout the Randolph game until midway through the fourth quarter,” HNHS head coach Josh Morten said. “We have been without some players here and there the last few games so it’s been difficult to get a good rhythm on offense. We are getting good shots off, but the ball just wasn’t going in the hoop for us.

‘We had a very balanced scoring attack which was nice to see. We just need to shoot better. The girls are playing hard but we haven’t won the turnover battle or getting to all the loose balls we can.”

The defeat saw the Lady Wildcats shoot just under 20 percent overall.

Against Homer, it was more of the same as the girls could not get a shot to find the bottom of the net.

‘We get a lot of good shots off, but we can’t seem to get the ball in the hoop,” Coach Morten said. “This ended up being a little bit of a weird game with it being moved to Saturday at 4. We were missing a few girls again which makes things difficult to find any sort of rhythm with subbing.

“Homer shot the ball rather well and their big girls gave us trouble on the glass. We gave up too many offensive rebounds and we couldn’t get the 50/50 balls.”

This week, the Lady Wildcats played at Laurel-ConcordColeridge Tuesday while Crofton will come to town on Friday.

“Crofton are a perennial powerhouse,” Coach Morten said. ‘We have to play nearly mistake free and shoot the ball very well to be able to compete in this game.

“Overall, we are really trying to find a breakthrough game where we can put things all together. This is a great group to coach. We just need to get better. We have really pretty solid practices overall we just can’t seem to bring it to the game.”

HNS 8 6 6 11 —31

Randolph 4 7 9 13— 33

SCORING

Randolph - Jaiden Taylor, 13; Gracie Eledge, 8; Natalie Munter, 8; Keely Pinkelman, 4. HNS - Alivia Morten, 10; Kayden Jueden, 8; Zoey Gratzfeld, 4; Mani Lange, 4; Keanna Korth, 2; Makenna Clarkson, 2.

REBOUNDS

Randolph - Keely Pinkelman, 6; Gracie Eledge, 5; Emmalee Harder, 5; Natalie Munter, 4; Jaiden Taylor, 3; Arial Fye, 2; Grace Nordhues, 2; Erin Engel, 1. HNS - Kayden Jueden, 8; Alivia Morten, 6; Mani Lange, 5; Zoey Gratzfeld, 5; Keanna Korth, 4; Delaney Sudbeck, 3.

ASSISTS

Randolph - Jaiden Taylor, 2; Emmalee Harder, 2; Gracie Eledge, 1; Natalie Munter, 1. HNS - Mani Lange, 1; Keanna Korth, 1; Delaney Sudbeck, 1.

STEALS

Randolph - Jaiden Taylor, 4; Grace Nordhues, 3; Natalie Munter, 2; Emmalee Harder, 2; Gracie Eledge, 1; Keely Pinkelman, 1; Ariel Fye, 1. HNS Alivia Morten, 3; Kayden Jueden, 2; Mani Lange, 1; Zoey Gratzfeld, 1; Keanna Korth, 1; Delaney Sudbeck, 1.

SCORING

HNS - Kayden Jueden, 13; Alivia Morten,9; Mani Lange, 4; Keanna Korth, 3; Delaney Sudbeck, 3.

REBOUNDS

HNS - Kayden Jueden, 7; Keanna Korth, 7; Makenna Clarkson, 7; Olivia Grutsch, 4; Mani Lange, 2; Kennadi Peitz, 2; Delayne Sudbeck, 2; Alivia Morten, 1; Karli Bruning, 1.

ASSISTS

HNS - Kayden Jueden, 1; Alivia Morten, 1; Keanna Korth, 1.

STEALS

STEALS HNS - Mani Lange, 3; Alivia Morten, 1; Olivia Grutsch, 1; Kayden Jueden, 1; Delaney Sudbeck, 1; Makenna Clarkson, 1.

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