O-C Knights Hand Patriot Girls First Loss of Season
By: Gracie Eisenmann, a freshman at Leigh High School
On Monday, February 1, the varsity girls faced off against the Oakland-Craig Knights for the second round of the East Husker Conference Tournament held in Leigh. The stands were packed with fans cheering on their Patriots, but the fans’ support wasn’t enough to bring about a win. The Knights handed the Patriots their first loss of the season, snapping their 16 game win-streak.
Since the Patriots were ranked #1 they received a bye for round one. After #8 Oakland-Craig knocked off #9 Wisner-Pilger in the first round, the Patriots prepared for them on Monday night.
The Lady Patriots started off down by 4 at the end of the first, but a strong second quarter put the Patriots up by 1 headed into halftime, 23-22.
But after halftime, the Knights made some big plays toward the end of the third quarter and regained a commanding lead.
"Credit to Oakland-Craig in the second half for stepping up defensively and making plays offensively,” said Head Coach Matt Murren. “We got a 33-24 lead with 4:30 left in the 3rd quarter, and OC then made some big plays on the perimeter and at the hoop. Defensively we lacked communication necessary for us to get stops, and we must grow from that experience."
After putting up a tough fight, the Patriots fell 54-40.
"Losing is never fun,” Murren continued. “Of course, our goal was to win the Conference tourney when the year began, but we must take it as a learning moment. We have to get better and grow from this game, and if that is the case, in the end maybe it makes us a tougher team. The girls will come back to practice in the days and weeks ahead with the correct mindset, and we will make sure we improve. We learned some things we didn't know about our team prior to the game that we need to work on, and we will get that done. It will make us a better team."
The team was led by senior Kayden Schumacher and freshman Chloe Hanel in the loss. Schumacher put up 11 points and 3 steals, while Hanel contributed 10 points and 5 steals.
Schumacher said, “It was a tough loss, especially since it was a Conference game. We couldn’t hold our nine-point lead in the third quarter, and that hurt us. As a team, we are going to grow and learn from this game. We are getting better every day in practice, and we are going to be ready for our upcoming games.”
Game Stats:
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Final
C-L 8 15 10 7 40
O-C 12 10 18 14 54
(Points, rebounds, assists, steals)
Chloe Hanel—10, 3, 1, 5; Kennedy Settje—7, 5, 0, 1; Faith Indra—5, 3, 0, 0; Bailey Lemburg—0, 0, 1, 0; Cassidy Hoffman—0, 7, 1, 0; Alissa Kasik—7, 3, 1, 2; Kayden Schumacher—11, 4, 1, 3