Lady Cardinals Flying High With Recent Wins

By Terry Viterna

In basketball action last week St. Mary's Lady Cardinals landed in Neligh for a hard fought battle with the Neligh-Oakdale Lady Warriors. 

After one period of basketball SMH  only had a 13-8 lead over the N-O Lady Warriors. As the game progressed SMH was able to wear the Warriors down with its depth on the bench and come away with a 59-18 victory. One of the biggest factors in the game was their ability to out rebound N-O by a margin of 41-15. This gave them more opportunities for put backs under the basket. With nine players scoring in the game it was hard for the Warriors to key in on any one player. 

Leading the team in scoring was Justine Blumenstock with 12 points, followed by Brooke Bauer and Riley Sibbel with 10 each. Sydney Hupp led the team in rebounding with eight boards. Bridget Schneider handed out six assists, while the team had 21 steals led by Brooke Bauer. All sixteen players were able to contribute in the 65-18 victory.

On Friday afternoon St. Mary's Lady Cards hit the road and headed west to square off against the North Central Lady Knights. St. Mary's jumped out to a 15-2 first quarter lead and never looked back as they posted a 65-18 Niobrara Valley Conference win over North Central. This win improves their record to 5-0 on the season.

Emily Everitt and Brooke Bauer led in scoring with 11 and 10 points. Once again every player was able to have a huge part in the win. Eleven Lady Cardinals were able to put points on the board. St. Mary's was able to control the glass again out rebounding N-C 49-19. 

The Lady Cards need to improve on their free throw shooting, they only made 7-22 attempts. In a close game free throws are a premium. Justine Blumenstock pounded the boards and came away with nine of them to lead both teams. Next game will be at home against Spalding-Spalding Academy.