Lady Trojans’ second-half comeback falls short against Dakota Valley

HARTINGTON — After trailing by a baker’s dozen at the intermission, the Cedar Catholic Lady Trojans basketball team used a secondhalf surge to try to get back in the game.

The attempt fell short as Dakota Valley (S.D.) held off the Lady Trojans 61-54 on Dec. 19 at the Msgr. Werner Activity Center in Hartington.

A one-point lead after the first eight minutes turned into a 13-point advantage at the halftime buzzer before Cedar Catholic came to life in the third quarter.

The Lady Trojans took five points off the lead in the third stanza and another single point in the fourth frame to arrive at the 61-54 final score.

Lauren Bernecker paced the Cedar Catholic offense with a gamehigh 17 points, including a 3-for-3 performance from beyond the threepoint line.

Addison Walter added 10 points, Anisten Wortmann had nine, Katelyn Arens tossed in eight and Grace Wortmann tacked on five.

Arens hauled in 11 rebounds in the contest and Katy Jones dished out three assists. The Lady Trojans are set to open play in the Elkhorn Valley Bank Great Northeast Nebraska Shootout with the 9:30 a.m. game on Dec. 28 at Rice Auditorium on the campus of Wayne State College. Cedar Catholic will take on Winnebago in the first round with the winner of that contest set to take on the winner of a game between Pender and Laurel-Concord-Coleridge on Dec. 29. The finals are scheduled for Dec. 30.

Dakota Valley 13 19 10 19 - 61 Cedar Catholic 12 7 15 20 - 54

P=Pts,R=Rebs, A=Assists, S=Steals, B=Blocks.

CEDAR CATHOLIC: Bailey Hochstein 1-3 0-0 2P, 2A; McKinlee Lammers 0-2 0-2 0P, 1R; Katy Jones 1-5 0-0 3P, 3A, 3S; Katelyn Arens 2-6 4-6 8P, 11R, 1S; Lauren Bernecker 6-8 2-3 17P, 4R, 1A, 2S; Anisten Wortmann 4-13 0-2 9P, 3R, 2A, 1S; Samantha Pick 0-2 0-0 0P, 4R, 1S; Grace Wortmann 2-3 0-0 5P, 3R, 1B; Addison Walter 4-9 1-4 10P, 6R.