Lady ’Cats claim runner-up honors in Stanton

STANTON - After grabbing a spot in the finals of the Stanton Holiday Tournament here Dec. 29, Hartington- Newcastle came up a little short against the host of the event, the Stanton Lady Mustangs, falling 4433, to bring home the second-place hardware.

Mani Lange and Maddie Steffen paced the Lady Wildcat offense with 15 and 11 points respectively, in a game head coach, Grant Rolfes felt was there for the taking.

“It was a tough way to end the last four minutes of a game that I thought we played well enough to win,” Rolfes said. “Credit to Stanton, they are an athletic, balanced team and made plays at the right time to pull away.”

After trailing by a single point heading into the final eight minutes of the contest, Stanton outscored the Lady Wildcats in the final frame, 18-8 to pull away for the win.

In the early going, Hartington-Newcastle earned the lead 12 -9 after the first quarter, but trailed 23-18 at the halftime break.

The Lady Wildcats outscored Stanton by three in the third period to arrive at the one-point deficit heading into the fourth.

Zoey Gratzfeld added six points and Lauren Howell chipped in a free throw to round out the Hartington-Newcastle scoring.

Gratzfeld and Steffen led the team with six rebounds each, Olivia Grutsch had three steals.

The Lady Wildcats were working to restart their winning streak as they resume their schedule in the new year with a trip to Bloomfield Jan. 2.

They will then be home for four straight games beginning with Winside Jan. 5 and Niobrara/Verdigre on Jan. 9.

HNS (6-4) 12 6 7 8 - 33 STA (6-3) 9 14 3 18 - 44 HARTINGTON-NEWCASTLE: Mani Lange 6-8 3-4 15; Lauren Howell 0-0 1-2 1; Olivia Grutsch 0-4 0-0 0; Zoey Gratzfeld 3-7 0-0 6; McKenzie Bruning 0-6 0-0 0; Maddie Steffen 3-12 5-12 11.