Lady Wildcats top Cougars to earn trip to title game

PONCA — The Hartington-Newcastle Lady Wildcats withstood a big Niobrara-Verdigre comeback threat to win their D1-3 Sub-District tournament game Tuesday night.

HNS had to overcome the Lions’ 9-0 scoring run deep in the third quarter, and then use a monstrous fourth quarter offensive scoring onslaught to beat the Lady Cougars in the night’s second game of the Sub-District.

“I think our team has really come a long way this year, and have been able to compete well.” Wildcat head coach Josh Morten said. “This is going to be a very intense game, which should be expected when you get to this point in the year and it’s win or go home.”

The second-seeded Lady Wildcats drew first blood, coming out of the gates with full-court pressure, causing all sorts of confusion for the third-seeded Lady Cougars, resulting in several early turnovers.

One of those early turnovers found itself in the waiting hands of H-N freshmen Alivia Morten, who took advantage of her opportunity to drop an easy jump shot for the early Wildcat lead.

A short scrum on the floor caused a quick Hartington-Newcastle timeout in order to preserve possession of the ball. The ensuing play then resulted in a long pass from Delayne Sudbeck to Kayden Jueden for the easy layup. The intensity of the game could be felt as both teams found themselves immersed in foul trouble early in the first half. The first set came to a close in a dead heat as HNS led N-V 8-6.

With 6:08 left to go in the first half Lady Cougar freshmen Chrissenna Swalley gave N-V its first lead of the game courtesy of a 3-point shot from beyond the arc.

The lead would be short lived however as (Sudbeck) banked in a quick jump shot putting the Wildcats back on top.

H-N, with their full court pressure applied, would allow the Cougars to move the ball down the court and find Emily Parks at the baseline for a game tying 3-pointer, before Sudbeck would once again make the rebuttal jump shot regaining the twopoint lead with 2:52 left in the first half. With both teams in the bonus for fouls, and a successful trip to the charity stripe for (Alivia) Morten, Hartington-Newcastle would retire to the locker clinging to a 16-13 lead over the Cougars.

The third quarter saw an offensive spark get ignited for the Lady Cougars. Behind the play of Parks and Swalley, both of whom would take turns knocking down 3-pointers en route to a 9-0 scoring melee, forcing the Wildcats to regroup with a timeout. Coming back from the break in action, the Lady Wildcats would soon find themselves without the help of their lone senior Abbe Morten who would be forced to exit the game with an ankle injury. On the heels of a fourth three-point play from the Cougars, the third quarter would finally come to an end for the Lady Wildcats, but not before being outscored by the Cougars 12-6, and giving them the 25-22 advantage going into the final frame.

“Staying out of foul trouble is huge,” Coach Morten said. “Sounds a little cliché, but if we do the little things correctly we can be a pretty good team. We don’t have a lot of depth, so not getting tired is also a huge factor.”

The Lady Wildcats would answer their coach’s challenge in the fourth quarter. Doing the little things correctly en route to an explosive 24-point performance in the fourth quarter led by (Alivia) Morten and Kayden Jueden. Both teams found themselves in foul trouble once again late, although it proved to be irrelevant as the Wildcat defense held the Lady Cougars to 14 points scored in the fourth quarter. Hartington-Newcastle rode this one home via the charity stripe, taking home the 46-39 victory, thus sealing the all-Hartington D1-3 sub-district final game with their cross-town Cedar Catholic rival.

Leading the scoring efforts for the Lady Wildcats, and leading all scorers was Kayden Jueden, with 17 points scored. Following close behind was Alivia Morten with 12 and Sudbeck with 11.

SCORING

HNS - Kayden Jueden, 17; Alivia Morten, 12; Delaney Sudbeck, 11; Keanna Korth, 4; Abbe Morten, 2. NV - E mily Parks, 15; Chrissenna Swalley, 12; Bree Breithaupt, 7; Serina Babcock, 4; Tala Henry, 1.

REBOUNDS

NV - Tala Henry, 6; Wichiana Grant-Wabasha, 5; Bree Breihaupt, 4; Harley Stark, Chissenna Swalley, 4; Emerson Randa, 3; Natasha Henrey, 1.

ASSISTS

NV - Harley Stark, 3.