St. Mary's Cardinals Corral Cowboys

David Shields - goes up for a layup in action against Cody-Kilgore last Saturday. Photo courtesy Jim Podany.

The St. Mary's varsity boys traveled to western Nebraska on Saturday and defeated the Cody-Kilgore Cowboys by a score of 63-33. The 9-0 Cards out scored the Cowboys 20-3 in the second quarter and never looked back. Eleven of the 15 young men who suited for the contest scored in the victory.

The Cardinals placed three men in double figures led by seniors Tait Sibbel and Tom Chvala with 12 points each. Junior Connor Connot added 10 tallies for St. Mary's. Chvala led the rebounding for the Cardinals with nine boards while Aaron Ohri and Adam Moon pulled down five caroms each. Sibbel led the assist total with eight while point guard Ty Eiler added six. Moon led the defense with two blocked shots and three steals while Eiler added three steals and Tyler Timmerman and Kyle Pardun secured two steals each.

The junior varsity also won their game 45-12 in three quarters of action. All 18 boys saw action in the contest. The JV's are now 8-0 on the season. This week the varsity travels to Ewing on Thursday night and then entertain CWC on Saturday for both JV and varsity action. The freshmen will travel to Wausa on Saturday for tournament action. First game will be at 12:45 against the Hartington Wildcats.

Lady Cards Play Three Games In Four Days

Jessie Pongratz aims for two against EPPJ Wolfpack on Friday night.  St. Mary's scored 44 to EPPJ's 34 to add a win to their scorecard. Photo courtesy Studio B Photography.

The Lady Card's started off with a game against Class C No.9 Elgin Public/Pope John, then traveled out to Cody-Kilgore and returned home to face another top ranked team in Humphrey High. Playing this tough competition was great for our team but it also wore them down as well. 

It was a real defensive battle against Elgin Public/ Elgin Pope John as both teams battled for rebounds and shots. SMH Lady Card's came out with a 44-34 win against a very good Niobrara Valley Conference Team. Top scorer for SMH was Megan Schneider while Brooke Bauer mopped up the boards with 13 rebounds. 

On the very next day SMH jumped on a bus and traveled for almost three hours one way out to Cody. They would face a much taller Cody/Kilgore Cowgirl team and come away with a hard fought victory 64-32. Twelve out of 14 players would score in this varsity game, led by Bridget Schneider with 16 while Emily Everitt and Megan knocked down 10 each. Brooke Bauer and Justine Blumenstock controlled the boards with 10 and nine rebounds. Both of these games included a great team effort as well as great sportsmanship. 

Monday afternoon SMH hit the road again and traveled down to Humphrey and took on the Lady Bulldogs. In this game Humphrey shot lights out, behind the hot hand of their 6'0 guard as she poured in 30 points. The Card's could not buy a basket as the defense played really well and forced 12 turn-overs on Humphrey while only committing six of our own at half. Humphrey went on to claim a 56- 40 victory in the battle of ranked D-1 teams. This was a good game for our team as it will help us down the road. Humphrey is one of the best teams in the state as they proved that last night. 

Next action will put SMH varsity Lady Card's on the road Thursday night against the always scrappy Ewing Tigers. St. Mary's varsity's record stands at 9-2 on the season. 

SMH JV Records Two Wins On The Road. 

In junior varsity action SMH won a three quarter contest against Cody-Kilgore (32-15) and racked up a second quarter victory over Humphrey High (23-20). SMH junior varsity improves to 10-0 on the season. In the game against Cody-Kilgore, Addie Wetzel and Marisa Miles led in scoring with 13 and four  points. Addie also led in rebounding as she recorded a double-double with 14 boards. Krissy Krotter and Alejandra Vergara had five steals each. Against Humphrey Erin Boyle, Makayla Wiese and Carli Baseggio led with six, five and five points. This was a very good team effort. 

JH Lady Cards

St. Mary's seventh grade team and eighth grade team both posted wins over CWC junior high teams. 

In seventh grade action SMH won 62-9 led by Breanna Hedstrom and Taylor Colman with 12 points each. All eight players scored in this game. In the eighth grade game SMH recorded a very hardfought win by a score of 46-27. Sydney Hupp and Riley Sibbel led in scoring with 16 and 14 respectfully. Both games showed great team effort and every player contributed in the victories. 

Lady Eagles Edged Out By Number One Team 45-43

KELSEY APPLEBY - looks to move the ball in action against Boone Central last Friday in O'Neill.

The O'Neill Lady Eagles split a pair of tough games last week just getting edged out on Friday by number  one state-rated Boone Central 43-45 and came away with a win against Elgin Public/Pope John on Saturday.  "I am very proud of the effort our girls put out last week and the way we executed our game plan. Boone Central is currently 10-0 and we led a lot of the game and battled them to the end.  Holding them to 45 points was very good considering they had been averaging over 65 points a game.  We then faced off with a very tough Elgin team that was extremely hot shooting the ball hitting six threes in the contest.  We would get the lead to 12 then they would hit a three and it seemed like every time we started to pull away, they would hit a big shot.  This was a good win for us on the road and I thought we battled and really played hard the entire game.  I am very proud of last weeks effort and  think our girls should have a great deal of confidence leading into this tough January stretch of games," said coach Brock Eichelberger.

In the Boone Central game Lindsey Appelby led the Eagles with12 points and 11 rebounds followd by Alex Hedlund with 10 points and five rebounds, Kelsey Appleby with nine points and three rebounds and Brandi Walters with six points and two rebounds. The Eagles shot 54% from the free throw line and 52% in their two point game.

Against Elgin, Kelsey Appleby led the Lady Eagles with 18 points and seven rebounds followed by Alex Hedlund with 11 points and six rebounds, Lindsey Appleby with eight points and five rebounds and Molly Shane with six points and 10 rebounds. The Lady Eagles shot 64% of their free throws and 32% in the two point range.

Lady Eagles Go 1-1 In Stanton Tourney

The O'Neill  Lady Eagles went 1-2 in their last two contests dropping a game to a very tough Crofton team and losing a hard fought holiday tournament game vs. West Holt.  "We struggled a bit offensively the past three games partly because of the competition, but more so of knocking down shots and rebounding. We will need to pick up our defensive play and aggressiveness in the month of January to compete with our remaining schedule.  We have started out the first third of our year very good and I am proud of what we've accomplished so far, however we need to get back to playing with a sense of urgency again. This week our competion will be no different than what we've faced so far with 9-0 Boone Central on Friday and 7-2 Elgin/Pope John on Saturday.  We will need to perform close to mistake free to compete in both of these games," said coach Brock Eichelberger.

The Lady Eagles fell to Crofton before the winter break losing 43-23. Alex Hedlund led the Eagles in scoring with 12 points followed by Lindsey Appleby with three and Kelsey Appleby, Brandi Walters, Katie Danielson and Shianne Coventry, all with two points. Leading rebounders were Molly Shane with eight, Alex Hedlund with five and Katie Danielson and Kelsey Appleby with three each.

In the first game of the Stanton Tournament the Lady Eagles defeated Stanton 47-39. Leading the Eagles were Kelsey Appleby with 12 points, Molly Shane with 10 and Alex Hedlund and Brandi Walters with seven each. Leading rebounders were Lindsey Appleby and Molly Shane with seven, Kelsey Appley with five, Alex Hedlund with six and Katie Danielson with four.

In the last match against West Holt the girls fell 55-49. Leading the girls in scoring was Kelsey Appleby with 15 points, Alex Hedlund with 11 points, Brandi Walters with 10 and Molly Shane with eight.

O'Neill Eagles Start Out 2012 With Two Wins

Jordyn Johnson - drives to the bucket in action against Boone Central last Friday in O'Neill.

On Friday the Eagles played host to the Cardinals of Boone Central with the end result in O’Neill’s favor by a score of 65-54.  The first quarter saw the Eagles build a sizeable lead, only to have Boone fight back to finish the stanza all tied up at 16.  The second quarter, the Eagles again built a lead but added the defensive dimension to hold the Cardinals to single digits and to take a seven-point lead into the locker room for halftime.  The second half was much the same as the second quarter as the Eagles continued to attack offensively and were able to hit free throws down the stretch to earn the hard fought victory.  “This was a great win for us against a very tough Boone Central team. We knew this game would come down to the fourth quarter and the boys really responded well by closing out the game mentally, which included making several pressure free throws late,” commented Coach Kallhoff.   “I was very pleased with our team concept tonight and if we continue to play this well together then we will be competitive in every game.”  That team effort was evident in the scoring column as the Eagles had four players in double digits, led by Tyler Knopp with 15 and followed closely by Derrick Hostert’s 13, Jordyn Johnson’s 12, and Connor Peterson’s 10 point performances.  Johnson added 10 rebounds for a double-double against the much taller Cardinals. Brock Schueth did his part by getting the ball to the open teammates to finish with six assists to go along with his six rebounds.

On Saturday the Eagles played Elgin/Pope John at Pope John Central Catholic and brought home their second win in as many nights by a score of 43-29.  O’Neill jumped out to an early lead and never looked back.  Offensively the Eagles struggled at times to get into the flow of the game due in large part to self-inflicted errors, but they picked up the slack on the defensive end in a big way along with out rebounding the Wolfpack by 17.  Leading all scorers was Jordan Johnson who recorded his second double-double in as many nights with an 18-point, 10 rebound effort.  Brock Schueth also hit double digits with 12 points along with a great defensive effort that allowed him to rip away three steals.  “We struggled at times on the offensive end, but that was somewhat expected because we had just been in a battle the night before with Boone Central.  But we told the boys our effort and defense would have to step up because Elgin/Pope John is a team that will never quit and they will scratch and claw their way back into a tight game if we let them.  Overall we are very pleased with how our team is playing and will continue to work hard in practice to help build off the momentum we have built thus far,” commented Coach Kallhoff.  Next action for the Eagles includes a trip west on Thursday to take on the Ainsworth Bulldogs and then the short trip east to take on the 10-0 Bulldogs of Creighton.  

Ewing Boys Defeat Lindsay Holy Family 61-55

The Ewing boys defeated  Lindsay Holy Family by a score of 61-55. Leading scorers were Jake Walton with 18 points followed by Damian Summers with 14 points and nine assits, Robert Nordby with 12 points and six rebounds, Tad Fry with 10 points and eight rebounds and Blake Cunningham with seven points. Ewing led at halftime 28-18 and with held a furious family by Holy Family to come away with the 61-55 victory to move to 3-3 at the Christmas break.  “The free-throw line was the key to this game as we were able to hit 19-24 while Holy Family was only 8-16.  Our kids fought hard in the fourth quarter to come up with this victory, said Coach Appleby.

Ewing 14 9 16 22 61

LHF 6 12 17 20 55

Tigers Lose Two at 

Cyclone Holiday Tournament

Leading the Tigers in the match with Elkhorn Valley were Blake Cunningham with 15 points and eight rebounds and four assists, Robert Nordby with 13 points and nine rebounds, Damian Summers with 12 points and five assists and three steals, Jake Walton with 10 points and five assists and Tad Fry with 10 points.

Ewing 19 25 29 0 63

EV 14 24 13 24 75

In the game against the Clearwater/Orchard team, Damian Summers led the Tigers with nine points, six rebounds and five assists, Jake Walton had eight points, Tad Fry eight points and Ben Ramold had six rebounds. The Ewing Tigers went 0-2 at the Cyclone Holiday Tournament over the Christmas break.  The Tigers lost a tough one to Elkhorn Valley that they led 63-51 after three quarters in round one, but the Tigers went cold in the fourth quarter and couldn’t buy a bucket while Elkhorn Valley’s defensive intensity forced many Tiger turnovers on the night.  The consolation game was much of the same as the Tigers led 22-9 after 10 minutes of play but only scored six points over the course of the next 17 minutes and couldn’t handle the Cyclones and lost 36-50.

“We have many areas in which we need to improve as a coaching staff and as a team.  We are turning the ball over too much, getting beat on the boards, and not handling tough situations in the game very well.  At times we are playing well, but our inconsistency throughout the course of the game is causing us problems.  We intend to get back to work in practice to improve our weaknesses and get better as we progress through the remainder of our schedule,” said Coach Appleby.

Ewing 16 8 2 10 36

C/O 9 14 10 17 50