CHIEF SPORUS Indians power their way past Whippets in a pair of victories
BROKEN BOW - The Broken Bow boys and girls basketball team hosted conference foe, Minden, in home basketball games on Dec. 12. The boys pulled out a 61-38 victory and the girls used a strong fourth quarter to win 49-34.
Coming into the game against Minden, the Indian boys were coming off their first loss of the season, to a highly touted team in Class D1 in North Platte St. Patricks. The team needed a bounceback performance against a beatable Whippet squad.
At the end of the first quarter, the Indians had a 9-7 advantage over Minden.
Midway through the second, the Indians pulled out in front of the
Whippets 22-16. After a layup by Frazier Kaelin the lead was extended to nine points.
Right before the buzzer sounded for halftime, Keegan Baxter was able to get a jump shot up for Broken Bow and drain it to give the Indians a 32-18 lead into the locker room.
“We finally started to settle in more in the second quarter and became more comfortable against pressure, allowing us to slow our game down,” Broken Bow boys head coach Nathan Olson said. “This helped us on the offensive end, but defensively is where the tone was set. Our guys did a good job of keeping their guys in front of them and not allowing penetration.”
Broken Bow picked up right where they left off
on the offensive side of the ball to begin the third. After passing the ball around, the Indians were able to find Blake Denson at the top of the key for an open three he connected on.
Later in the half, both Kaelin and Baxter were able to knock down threepointers in rhythm, extending the lead to 5428.
A big reason for Broken Bow’s success was their dominance on the boards. This was put on display when Baxter missed a shot that was rebounded by Dylon Baum and put back up and in for two points.
The Indians got to their final point total with two free throws from Qwentin Coble and one of two from Daine Wardyn.
All in all, it was one of the most complete games played by the Broken Bow boys up to this point. A big reason for their success was the great play they got from their bench players.
“Frazier came in off the bench and brought some toughness for us and did some really nice things,” Olson said. I was pleased with our team being able to carry over what we did all week in practice to the game.”
Leading the Indians in scoring was Baxter with 23 points and Kaelin off the bench with 11 points. On the glass, Baum, Baxter, and Denson all recorded seven rebounds to lead the team.
The undefeated Broken Bow girls basketball team found themselves in a much more tightly contested game to start.
Out of the gate, the Indians were able to pull ahead 11-5, but the Whippets worked quickly to erase that lead. After a made free throw by Sloane Beck for Minden, the lead for Broken Bow was 11-10 at the end of the first.
Despite not shooting the ball well and finding themselves in foul trouble to begin the second, the Indians were still able to cause problems for the Whippets with their press.
This relentless pressure resulted in a turnover and easy layup for Kya Scott. Later on, after being fouled underneath, Emma Schall was able to put Broken Bow up 15-10 with two free throws.
The Indians were able to push their advantage up to nine points, thanks to a jumper up top by freshman Halle McCaslin and a steal and layup by Kailyn Scott.
Once again, Minden was able to put together a late surge to end the quarter to make the game close at halftime. Abigail Rehtus had four straight points and Sarah Hulquist hit a three from half court before the buzzer to cut Broken Bow’s lead to 21-20 at the break.
“I thought Minden played a really great first half defensively and gave us some trouble,” Broken Bow girls head coach Kelly Cooksley said. “They played with more energy and effort in that first half and we let our body language and mindset dictate our play. We also had some foul trouble as well that gave us a little bit of adversity.”
Late in the third quarter, r, the Indians found themselves lves ahead by five at 29-24. 4. Hannah Merrill was able le to put a basket up and d in underneath, making g it a onepossession sion game heading to the fourth ourth quarter.
Broken en Bow was finally able to turn the corner in the final frame and string points together to stretch etch their lead out.
Kya Scott was able to get things ngs going with a layup p on a fast break and then en Kali Staples was able ble to make a three in n the corner. A layup up off a steal by y Kennedy Garcia and a basket inside by Callie White put the game ame out of reach for the Whippets.
“Overall I was really happy with the way we battled through some adversity and grew a little bit,” Cooksley said. “I thought our defense was really good, forcing 36 turnovers.”
Kailyn Scott led the Indians with her best scoring output of the season with 21 points. Chipping in with nine points was Kya Scott and Staples.
Finishing with seven rebounds was Callie White and Kailyn Scott had six.
Broken Bow has two games this upcoming week. They are at Ainsworth on Dec. 18 and then they return home to play St. Paul on Dec. 19.