Lady Raiders earn 1st victory the basketball season

The ‘Holiday vacation’ from extracurricular activities for high schools in Nebraska was good for the L/N High School girls basketball team. After starting the season with a 0-5 record, the girls were able to put three victories together and now have a 3-5 record. The girls have a 2-4 record with class D-1 schools and a 1-1 record with class D-2 schools.

Upcoming games include: January 7 at home against McCool Junction; January 9 at Giltner and January 14 at Rock Hills.

Game summaries for the past two games: 

L/N – HAMPTON: 46-27: A 19 pt. victory looks like a less than interesting ball game. However, the box score give a difference story.

The box score:

L/N           3    18    12     13  -  46

Hampton   4      7    12       4  -  27

That first period saw a total of two field goals (one by each team) made. The Raiders were 1-18 from the field and Hampton was 1-9. Turnovers by Hampton severely limited their field goal attempts and the Raiders just flat out missed a lot of attempts.

That drought of scoring turned around for L/N in the second period as two things took place. First, in the first six minutes of the period, L/N outscored Hampton 14-1. Secondly, Hampton suffered 8 turnovers and the lady Raiders turned most of them into points. At times, things just seem to go well, and this was one period where no matter what happened, the Raiders turned the activity into points. At one point, Kara Menke scored ten consecutive points within a minute and half.

Hampton made a run to close the scoring difference in the 3rd period, but the local gals responded and maintained their lead. The Raider defense again prevailed in the final period to produce the 19 point victory.

Seven girls in all put points on the score board. They were led by Kara Menke with 25. Kara had 7 steals and Addison had 3; Bayleigh and Josie each had two assists.

Statistics: (Scoring – Rebounds – Fouls) Addison McCloskey 3 – 2 - 4; Kali Cassell 5 – 2 - 2; Bayleigh Bohlen 0 – 2 - 0; Maya Fanning 2 – 1 - 1; Vali Koehler 3 – 4 - 1; Hanna Skinner 3 – 7 - 1; Kara Menke 25 – 4 - 1; Josie Hajny 0 – 1 - 3; Maddy Laughlin 0 – 1 - 1; Kara Peters 0 – 0 - 1; Brynn Harrison 5 – 7 - 3; L/N total: 47 – 35 - 19; Hampton total: 27 – 31 - 11.

L/N – FRANKLIN: 38-33

Some folks may call this an “Ugly” win . . . a win is still a win. In spite of not playing their best game of basketball, the local girls still found a way to defeat Franklin who (like L/N) plays a schedule heavy with class D-1 schools.

The box score:

L/N          9    8    11    10  -  38

Franklin   8    9     5     11  -  33

An ugly game doesn’t mean it wasn’t interesting. As could be noted by the score above. The score was tied four times and the lead changed hands nine times, all in the first half of play.

Turnovers were numerous throughout the game. In fact, at one point eight turnovers took place without a shot being taken by either team. Times like that helped keep the score down, and the girls running. A total of 51 turnovers were totaled for the game.

On the other side of the ball, the game was slowed by the number of free throws. L/N had 33 attempts making 16 while Franklin had 13 attempts making six.

With the score tied at half time, the 11 points scored by L/N in the third period was crucial for the win. 11 points is not a large number of points in eight minutes, but the Raider defense held Franklin to only 5 points in the period, and that made the difference.

A “cold” January victory was fueled by Kara Menke’s 19 pts. and nine rebounds. Kara also had eight steals with Vali Koehler having three steals.

Statistics: (Scoring – Rebounds – Fouls) Addison McCloskey 3 – 3 - 2; Kali Cassell 2 – 0 - 2; Bayleigh Bohlen 1 – 3 - 2; Vali Koehler 0 – 1 - 5; Hanna Skinner 2 – 2 - 1; Kara Menke 19 – 9 - 2; Josie Hajny 3 – 0 - 1; Maddy Laughlin 0 – 2 - 0; Brynn Harrison 8 – 6 - 3; L/N total:38 – 40 - 18 ; Franklin total:33 – 36 - 23.