Girls BB Wins Two Games in Conference Tourney
The first round of girls’ conference basketball for the Patriots tipped off on January 26th in Howells. The Lady Patriots, #8 seed, faced their opponent Oakland-Craig, #9 seed. Earlier in the year, they had defeated Knights by a close six-point margin.
Fortunately, that happened again last Friday night in another tight game. The Patriots came out on top, 38-32. A big third quarter push by the Pats was the difference in this game.
Sophomore Ashlynn Novotny led the team with 11 points, 8 rebounds, and 6 assists.
The following Monday, the Patriots were up against the #1 seed Stanton Mustangs in round two of conference. The Patriots hadn’t seen them yet this season and knew it would be a challenge.
The Mustangs knocked down key shots, and the Patriots just couldn’t keep up. The girls battled, but were unable to catch up. The final score was 49-25.
After the loss, that meant the Pats’ next opponent, for the third round of conference, would be against rival school, Howells-Dodge.
The Patriots played the Jaguars on Thursday, February 1 in Humphrey. Boy, was it an exciting game to watch! The entire game against the Jaguars was close.
Kaegan Held and Halee Steffensmeir were the top scorers for the Patriots. Held had 20, while Steffensmeir put up 16.
Foul trouble was an issue for the Pats, but that didn’t stop them. They continued to battle even up to the buzzer. Right before it went off to end the game, Junior Kaegan Held was fouled to shoot two. The pressure was on, as the game was tied 42-42. It was up to Held, whether or not they would proceed to overtime.
Unfortunately, neither one of the free throws bounced in. Four minutes was put back on the clock to start overtime number one! After a back-and-forth exchange, when the clock buzzed again to end the game, the score was still tied 46-46!
The Patriots and Jaguars now had to go into double overtime. Because the Pats had a few girls who fouled out earlier in the game, freshman players had the opportunity to step it up.
Kaegan Held and Kim Stodola were both fouled within those four minutes. This time all of the free throws swished in! The Pats outscored the Jags 7-4 in the second overtime due to free throws.
Finally, the Lady Patriots basketball team earned their first victory on the Jaguars since the consolidation. This was a well-deserved win!
Junior Kaegan Held said, “We came out of the first game with a win against Oakland-Craig, and we were very excited about that. We had played them close earlier this season, so we knew it was going to be a good battle. Next was Stanton. We had beat them last year, and we felt good about this year. They shot really well that night, and we weren't able to do the same. Finally, after the loss to Stanton, we had to play Howells-Dodge. We lost to them earlier, and we wanted some revenge. It was a tight game the whole way, and it came down to my free throws! I didn't finish them and we ended up going into double overtime to get the win. Right after I missed my free throws, I had confidence in myself and my teammates. I trusted them the whole way and we came out of the game with a great, hard-fought win. Conference was a success this year and it was the best that we have ever done. I'm looking forward to having that same success in districts!”
Oakland-Craig Stats:
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Final
C/L 7 6 17 8 38
O-C 7 7 5 13 32
(points, rebounds, assists, steals, turnovers)
Ashlynn Novotny-(11, 8, 6, 4, 1); Kaegan Held-(6, 6 ,4, 0, 3); Halee Steffensmeier-(8, 2, 1, 2, 2); Kim Stodola-(7, 7, 0, 2, 1); Cassidy Hoffman-(0, 6, 1, 0, 2); Paige Moore- (0, 0, 0, 1, 0); Beth Wiese-(6, 1, 0, 0, 1)
Stanton Stats:
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Final
C/L 8 0 11 6 25
Stanton 20 7 12 10 49
**No individual stats available for this game
Howells-Dodge Stats:
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 OT1 OT2 Final
C/L 11 10 11 10 4 7 53
H-D 12 13 10 7 4 2 48
(points, rebounds, assists, steals, turnovers)
Ashlynn Novonty-(4, 7, 5, 1, 3); Kaegan Held-(20, 5, 2, 2, 2); Halee Steffensmeir-(16, 0, 2, 6, 3); Kim Stodola-(4, 5, 0, 3, 3); Alissa Kasik-(2, 5, 0, 0, 0); Sara McEvoy-(3, 1, 0, 0, 1); Beth Wiese-(0, 2, 0, 0, 1)