Patriot Girls Place 3rd in Conference Tourney
Launch the media gallery 1 playerHeading down to Central Community College in Columbus to play in the East Husker Conference basketball tournament has always been a goal for the Clarkson/Leigh Patriots, and this year that goal was achieved.
The Patriots had a tough road to get down to Columbus. They played three games against Madison, Stanton, and West Point-Beemer before they played for 3rd place against Humphrey/Lindsay.
Head Coach Matt Murren said, “It was a big week for our program. It was the highest we had been ranked in program history in EHC Tournament, and it was our goal to play in Columbus on Saturday. The experience for the girls was fantastic and it was great to see them play in the moment and place 3rd in one of the toughest conferences in the state.”
The girls went out got the first win against Madison. The final score was 51-15. Junior, Ashlynn Novotny contributed 11 points and 9 rebounds, while senior Halee Steffensmeier knocked down 9 points for the Patriots.
In order to guarantee a spot in Columbus, the Patriots had to get past Stanton. They are going to Stanton a lot in the upcoming weeks and wanted to prove that they have what it takes. They did just that.
At the end of the first quarter, the Mustangs had a slight lead 5-8, but that didn’t get to the Patriots. They came into the 2nd quarter with an offensive mindset that we haven’t seen yet.
Clarkson/Leigh scored 14 points while Stanton only scored 9. The score at halftime was 19-17.
In the second half, the Patriots were able to lockdown defensively only allowing them to score 10 points. The final score was 34-27 with the Patriots on top.
Two games down, two to go in the EHC for the Patriots. Next up was West Point-Beemer. This game proved to be a tougher challenge than the Patriots were ready for.
Clarkson/Leigh gave up 34 points in the first half and was only able to score 19. It wasn’t the same team that we have seen in games past, but the Patriots weren’t going to give up.
Coming out of halftime, the Patriots needed to bring a lot of intensity and lock down on both the defensive and offensive ends.
Even though they only held West Point-Beemer to 20 points in the second half, the Patriots didn’t come out with the win. At the end of the 4th quarter the score was 34-54.
With the loss in the third round of conference, the Patriots were headed to Columbus to play for 3rd place.
Clarkson/Leigh was getting ready to take on Humphrey/Lindsay.
The girls knew that this game was going to be no easy win, and they had to come in ready to play.
The first quarter was a strong one for the Patriots. They were able to score 13 points while the Bulldogs only scored 10.
The second quarter was a whole different story. The Bulldogs were able to score 21 points against the Patriots’ defense. The score at halftime was 25-31.
The third quarter had to bring energy and intensity that we didn’t see the first half, and the Patriots did just that.
While it was still a seven-point game going into the 4th quarter, the Patriots were determined.
They were able to knock down shots that weren’t falling in the first part of the game and held the Bulldogs to 5 points.
Just like that, the Clarkson/Leigh Patriots won 3rd place in the EHC with a final score of 52-47.
Senior Kaegan Held contributed 15 points while Novotny, Steffensmeier, and junior, Kim Stodola added 5 rebounds each.
“The conference tournament was so much fun this year! We played some really good teams and just executed our game plan to come out on top,” said sophomore, Cassidy Hoffman. “This was the highest ranked we’ve ever been so to prove that we were worthy of that ranking really meant a lot! Hopefully the rest of the season pans out as well as conference did!”
Stats:
Clarkson/Leigh vs. Madison
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Total
Clarkson/Leigh 17 12 16 6 51
Madison 2 6 1 6 15
(points, rebounds, assists, steals)
Ashlynn Novotny—11, 9, 4, 1; Kim Stodola—5, 2, 1, 1; Hannah Kasik—8, 6, 0, 0;
Kennedy Settje—0, 5, 0, 1; Beth Wiese—4, 3, 0, 1; Reagan Settje—2, 2, 0, 0;
Kaegan Held—5, 3, 9, 1; Halee Steffensmeier—9, 2, 0, 1; Cassidy Hoffman—4, 4, 0, 0;
Alissa Kasik—3, 2, 0, 1; Kayden Schumacher—0, 1, 0, 0;
Clarkson/Leigh vs. Stanton
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Total
Clarkson/Leigh 5 14 8 7 34
Stanton 8 9 6 4 27
(points, rebounds, assists, steals)
Ashlynn Novotny—15, 7, 1, 3; Kim Stodola—0, 3, 0, 2; Hannah Kasik—9, 4, 0, 2;
Beth Wiese— 0, 2, 1, 0; Kaegan Held—5, 3, 4, 2; Halee Steffensmeier—3, 2, 0, 1;
Cassidy Hoffman—2, 1, 0, 0; Alissa Kasik—0, 0, 1, 0;
Clarkson/Leigh vs. West Point-Beemer
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Total
Clarkson/Leigh 9 10 3 12 34
West Point-Beemer 18 16 7 13 54
(points, rebounds, assists, steals)
Ashlynn Novotny—8, 4, 2, 1; Kim Stodola—2, 1, 0, 0; Hannah Kasik—3, 2, 1, 1;
Kennedy Settje—0, 1, 0, 0; Beth Wiese—2, 1, 0, 0; Reagan Settje—3, 0, 0, 0;
Kaegan Held—7, 4, 3, 0; Bailey Lemburg—0, 1, 0, 0; Halee Steffensmeier—3, 0, 0, 0;
Cassidy Hoffman—2, 1, 0, 1; Alissa Kasik—4, 1, 0, 0; Kayden Schumacher—0, 0, 1, 0;
Clarkson/Leigh vs. Humphrey/Lindsay Holy Family
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Total
Clarkson/Leigh 13 12 10 17 52
Humphrey/Lindsay 10 21 11 5 47
(points, rebounds, assists, steals)
Ashlynn Novotny—8, 5, 5, 6; Kim Stodola—8, 5, 0, 0; Hannah Kasik—9, 4, 1, 1;
Beth Wiese—2, 4, 2, 1; Kaegan Held—15, 2, 3, 2; Halee Steffensmeier—6, 5, 1, 1;
Alissa Kasik—4, 2, 0, 0; Cassidy Hoffman—0, 1, 1, 0;