Girls Down Titans and Pendragons in Opening Rounds of EHC
By: Kammy Held, a freshman at Leigh High School
On January 28, 2022, there was a rematch featuring the Patriot girls’ basketball team versus the Twin River Titans held in Pender for the opening round of the East Husker Conference. The girls entered the tournament with an 11-5 record and the #5 seed. This pitted them against the #12 seed Titans.
The first quarter was the biggest quarter for the Patriots, as they pushed the ball up the court and jumped out to an 18-point lead.
“Twin River was a good game for us to start the conference tournament with,” said Chloe Hanel, a sophomore at Clarkson. “We were able to push and control the pace the whole game.”
After leading 30-11 at halftime, the Patriots continued to dominate in the second half. The fourth quarter was also a well-played quarter for the Patriots. The Patriots only allowed the Titans to score 2 points, while the Patriots scored 12, bringing the final score to 52-17. 11 total players were able to put points on the board in this victory.
Advancing past the first round brought the Patriots to the second round of the 13-team tournament. This time they faced the #4-ranked Pender Pendragons on January 31, 2022 in North Bend. In an earlier matchup against the Pendragons this year, the Patriots lost by 4 points.
The Patriots were thrilled to be getting a rematch at Pender knowing that they could give it all they had. They knew they needed to play to the best of their ability to be able to pull this game off.
The game was tight after the opening quarter, and the Pendragons had a 1-point lead. But the Patriots had an explosive second quarter, scoring 20 points and playing great defense. This put them up by 8 heading into halftime.
Even though the Patriots were outscored by the Pendragons in both the third and fourth quarters, their lead going into halftime was enough to help them clinch the victory in the Pendragon rematch, 49-46.
Winning this second-round game guaranteed the girls a spot in either the championship game or the consolation game of the tournament to be played at Midland University.
Hanel led the team on offense with 23 points. Hanel, along with senior Makenna Held, also really crashed the boards with 6 rebounds apiece.
Matt Murren, Head Coach for the Patriots, said, "This was a big game for us in meeting a goal of making it to play at Midland on Thursday. We knew we were going to have to play extremely well to win and minimize as many mistakes as we could. We were able to do that in handling the ball really well and playing great defense for most of the game and taking away their three-point shooters. Numerous kids stepped up and made plays at big times for us and kept us in control for most of the night from the second quarter on. The girls really wanted this game and you could see them gain confidence as it went along."
Game Stats vs. Twin River
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Final
TR 3 8 4 2 17
CL 21 9 10 12 52
Individual Stats (points, rebounds, assists, steals):
Cadence Indra–2, 4, 3, 1; Chloe Hanel–15, 4, 0, 0; Makenna Held–2, 1, 1, 5; Kennedy Settje–12, 6, 0, 0; Faith Indra–5, 9, 4, 3; Jessica Hoffman–2, 1, 1, 0; Tanyn Larson—2, 0, 0, 1; Korbee Wendt—2, 4, 2, 1; Gracie Eisenmann—2, 1, 1, 2; Brynn Settje—6, 1, 1, 2; Baylee Settje—2, 3, 0, 1
Game Stats vs. Pender
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Final
PD 9 11 10 16 46
CL 8 20 8 13 49
Individual Stats (points, rebounds, assists, steals):
Chloe Hanel–23, 6, 5, 2; Makenna Held–8, 6, 2, 2; Kennedy Settje–5, 2, 4, 0; Faith Indra–9, 1, 1, 2; Jessica Hoffman–2, 2, 0, 0; Korbee Wendt–2, 4, 0, 1