Strong second half’s propel Broncos over Coyotes
MERNA - The Mullen basketball teams were able to sweep an early-season doubleheader with Anselmo-Merna on the road on Dec. 4. The Class D2. No. 4 Broncos girls won 43-33 over the Coyotes and the Class D2 No. 1 Mullen boys walked away with a 44-30 victory.
In the girl’s game, it was a battle of two teams that were very evenly matched. Last season they played two close games, with the last matchup in the MNAC tournament being decided by six points in favor of the Broncos.
The Coyotes started the game off strong on a 7-1 run. It started with Jaide Chandler making a layup inside while being fouled. She was also able to convert the layup.
After this Kirsten Myers converted a layup and a good pass inside gave Chandler another opportunity to score an easy basket.
“Right away when we came out, we were tough,” Anselmo-Merna girls coach Trenton Kirchmann said. “We were attacking them, and we weren’t afraid of them. The biggest thing for us was we were getting in the lane and finishing our shots.”
With deficit mounting the Broncos took a timeout to try and real things back in. It was exactly what they needed, and out of the break, Mullen started on the comeback trail.
Taylor Svoboda was able to knock down a corner three and Kylie Licking was able to convert a transition layup to tie the game at eleven. The quarter ended with Kailyn Jacquot able to knock down one free throw to give A-M a one-point lead at the end of one.
The second quarter started with a 4-2 run by the Coyotes. Chandler was able to knock down two free throws to extend the lead to 16-13 for A-M.
Once again, the Broncos were able to fight through the adversity. Svoboda capped off a four-point run for Mullen with a layup inside to give the Broncos their first lead since 1-0.
“A lot of credit goes to them because they came out and played some really tough defense,” Mullen girls coach Clint Svoboda said. “We were just able to hang tough and make some shots at the end of the quarter. We knew we were going to get a tough battle from them out of the gate.”
Mullen earned six more points before the half was said and done. The last coming on a layup inside by Hanna Marshall increasing the lead to four at 23-19.
The Broncos picked up right where they left off in the second, with Samantha Moore getting to the line for two free throws. She was able to make both attempts.
It was not till later on up by nine at 34-25, that the Broncos strength and depth would be tested with adversity.
Moore who was the returning leading scorer for Mullen a year ago went down with an injury hustling for the ball near the sideline with a Coyote player. In the end, the injury was severe enough that she never returned.
The Broncos fought hard without her and had to rely on their defense to carry them the rest of the way. After that injury, Mullen only gave up eight more points in the game.
Senior Kylie Licking was able to step up big in the fourth with three baskets to keep the lead to two possessions. Her final points of the game came on a steal that she converted into a layup.
“We have been put into this situation once or twice in the past,” Svoboda said. “It’s a huge thing to overcome because Samantha is a big part of our game plan. I am proud of my girls for stepping up and never blinking. They knew what they had to do.”
The leading scorer for the Broncos was Svoboda with 14 points, followed by Licking with eight. On the glass, Brooke McCully had eight rebounds and Marshall had six.
Leading the Coyotes was Chandler with 15 points and Jacquot with five. Finishing with eight rebounds was Jacquot and Chandler had six.
The boy’s game ended up playing out very similar to the girls’ game.
Like the girls’ game, it was the Coyotes boys jumping out to the big early advantage. Wyat Lambertson was hot from the field, knocking down his first three baskets to give A-M a 6-0 advantage.
After the fast start by the Coyotes, slowly but surely, Mullen began to inch their way back into the game.
It started with a big three-pointer from up top by Trevor Kuncl and then Samuel Coble drove inside for a layup. The Broncos took the lead for the first time at 10-9 with a layup by Jaden Emerson.
At end of the first quarter, Mullen had a onepoint advantage at 12-11.
From there on out the Broncos were able to use a strong defensive effort to pull out the win. After giv ing up eleven points in the first, Mullen only gave up a combined eleven points in the second and third.
Another key in the win was the Broncos outscoring Mullen 16-4 in the third quarter.
“The energy was great for us after halftime,” Mullen boys coach Brad Wright said. “We came out flat after halftime last night and it carried over to the start of this game. In the third quarter, we were really able to turn it on and spread it open and we went from there.”
For the Coyotes they are a young team still figuring things out. They are also working through some injuries that is hampering their depth as well.
“Our team is figuring out our new positions and chemistry,” Myers said. “We have two players out with injuries, so we have just been trying out the best combination these first few games. I thought our defense has been solid and will be a strong point of our team this year.”
The leading scorer in the game for the Broncos was Jaden Emerson with 13 points and Brendon Walker with 12 points. Walker also added six steals and four rebounds.
For the Coyotes, Dalton Duryea had nine points and Lambertson had eight. The two-flip flopped in the rebound category, with Lambertson pulling down 12 inside and Duryea picking up nine.
On Dec. 9 both teams traveled to play road games. A-M was at Arcadia-Loup City and Mullen was at Valentine.