Girls Basketball Finishes Third in Conference!
Launch the media gallery 1 playerBy: Brynn Settje, a freshman at Leigh High School
In the first week of February, the Patriots had two really hard matches against North Bend and BRLD in the third and fourth rounds of the East Husker Conference Tournament.
The Patriots girls were the #5 seed out of 13 teams going into the tournament, and they advanced to the third round after defeating Twin River and Pender in the opening rounds. Making it to the third round unbeaten meant they had already earned a spot to play in either the championship or consolation bracket at Midland University.
The Patriots knew that going into both of these games they were going to have to play their best. We were all excited that we had the chance to play at Midland.
Their third-round game was against the #1 seed North Bend.
The Patriot girls came out excited to take a stab at the Tigers. They were ready to play defense and make something happen on offense. They jumped out to a first-quarter 18-13 lead, proving they can play with anyone. They kept up their intensity in the second quarter, making the score 29-23 in favor of the Pats going into halftime.
But the Patriots had a woeful third quarter, scoring just 2 points to the Tigers’ 18. North Bend went on a run and the girls couldn’t stop them. But even after being down by 10, the Pats battled hard to try to get back up. They outscored the Tigers 14-5 in the fourth, but North Bend took the win, 45-46.
Sophomore Chloe Hanel attacked the hoop ending the night with the most points with 18 points and 7 assists.
Head coach Matt Murren said, "We came out aggressively and really looked to attack their defense in the half court. We were able to get some scores at the hoop on attacks and knock down some perimeter shots to put together a really good first half. We had a little 6-minute spot in the third where they went on a run and got up 10 points on us. Our kids continued to battle and cut it to a one-possession game at the end. This game should've shown the girls that we can play with a lot of teams, as North Bend is one of the best teams in the state."
After losing to North Bend, the Patriots were scheduled to play the #2 seed BRLD Wolverines at Midland on February 5.
After the loss to NBC, the girls kept their heads and came out ready to play and prove to everyone they were a top Conference team. The Patriots utilized great defense to stop the BRLD top scorers. At halftime, the score was 26-25.
After halftime, the Patriots kept the right mindset to finish out the game with a victory. They scored an impressive 21 points in both the third and fourth quarters to totally take over the game, defeating the Wolverines 68-54.
Hanel again put up a whopping 28 points in the win. Seniors Kennedy Settje and Makenna Held contributed 14 and 11 points respectively.
Jessica Hoffman, a junior, said, “These were two very high-energy games. We knew going into both of them that we would have to play our best. We played really good against North Bend but weren't able to finish out the game like we wanted, and we lost by 1. Going into Saturday, we knew we would have to play really well again, and we were able to do that giving us 3rd place in our conference. Overall, it was really fun to have the opportunity to play down at Midland."
Head coach Matt Murren said, "Getting third place in our conference has a lot of meaning with how good our conference is. The girls understood this and had a great mindset going into the consolation game. We were focused on getting stops defensively and making plays offensively. We had a great 2nd half offensively where we really attacked their press and their zone in the half court and made a lot of plays. BRLD is a great team, so getting a victory to get 3rd place in the conference tournament meant a lot to this team."
This brings the Patriots’ record to 16-6!
Stats vs. North Bend
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Final
Clarkson-Leigh: 18 11 2 14 45
North Bend Central: 13 10 18 5 46
Individual Stats: (points, rebounds, assists, steals)
Chloe Hanel: 18, 4, 7, 2; Makenna Held: 4, 2, 0, 1; Kennedy Settje: 14, 7, 3, 1; Faith Indra: 3, 0, 2, 1; Korbee Wendt: 2, 1, 0, 0; Brynn Settje: 4, 0, 0, 1; Jessica Hoffman: 0, 2, 0, 1
Stats vs. BRLD
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Final
Clarkson-Leigh: 12 14 21 21 68
BRLD: 8 17 10 19 54
Individual Stats: (points, rebounds, assists, steals)
Chloe Hanel: 28, 8, 3, 4; Makenna Held: 11, 2, 3, 1; Kennedy Settje: 14, 6, 2, 0; Faith Indra: 5, 2, 3, 0; Jessica Hoffman: 4, 3, 2, 1; Korbee Wendt: 4, 3, 1, 2; Brynn Settje: 0, 1, 2, 1; Baylee Settje: 2, 0, 0, 0