Bobcats heat up from three point line in victory over Mustangs
CALLAWAY - The South Loup girls basketball team used a red hot shooting performance to knock off D2 No. 8 Sumner-Eddyville-Miller 64-39 on Jan. 12 in Callaway. The Bobcats shot 44% from the three-point line and 40% from the field throughout the game.
“We knew going in that they had an overall height advantage and liked to play a zone, so we really focused on getting clean outside shots,” South Loup Head Coach Abe Hinman said. “Our outside shooting definitely had an impact on the game. Every time we made an outside shot, they gave us an extra point which helped our score increase very quickly. It was nice to see our girls have such a great shooting night as we did vs Cambridge.”
Early on in the contest, South Loup raced out to a 6-0 advantage. The Mustangs were able to cut into that lead with two free throws by Adi McFarland.
Mya Weverka was able to make a three for the Bobcats and Mikah O’Neill forced her way inside for two points for S-E-M, making it a threepoint game. After another layup by O’Neill, it was 9-8 in favor of South Loup.
The Bobcats were able to rally off four more points before the end of the quarter to give themselves a 13-8 lead at the end of the first.
Trailing 19-12, the Mustangs went back to a familiar recipe for points by
feeding the ball inside to O’Neill. She had the first four points of the second with layups underneath.
Audrey Reiter got in on the action with a layup as well, cutting the deficit back down to one possession at 9-6.
Just when S-E-M thought they were turning the corner in the game, South Loup had a way of stretching their advantage out even further.
A jumper by Ava Pandorf and two three-pointers by the Bobcats gave South Loup their biggest lead of the game at 11 points. Later on, Megan Donegan connected on one of two free throws giving the Bobcats a 28-18 halftime lead.
According to S-E-M Head Coach John Rohde, South Loup’s hot shooting affected the outcome of the game. It threw the Mustangs out of their game plan and put them in situations where they were taking shots out of their comfort zone.
“We knew they were a good outside shooting team coming in but they got hot right out of the gate and shot well all game,” John Rohde said. “Getting down so quickly and them continuing to stay hot we never really could get in a rhythm offensively. We were trying to play catch up and were maybe taking some unadvised shots and making some mistakes we usually don’t make.”
Right out of the gate, the Bobcats picked up where they left off as Landyn Cole knocked down a deep two in the corner. Three straight three’s by Bailey Schwarz, Megan Donegan, and Pandorf increased the lead to 19 points at 39-20.
Off the bench, Jenna Claflin was able to score inside for the Mustangs and Faith Hernandez also made a basket inside trimming what was a 4220 lead for South Loup back down to 42-25.
Despite S-E-M’s best efforts to make it a game, the Bobcats ended the quarter on a 9-3 run. A big reason for South Loup’s late push was Pandorf who converted a layup off a steal and knocked down a three to give the Bobcats a 51-26 lead.
South Loup left their starters in to begin the final frame but subbed them out halfway through the quarter.
With some new faces on the court, Abbie Rohde was able to take advantage for the Mustangs by getting layups on three straight possessions, two of them coming off turnovers.
Closing the game out with a layup right before the buzzer was Abby Stallbaumer for the Bobcats.
“The girls were pretty down after our overtime loss to Hershey,” Hinman said. “So, to come out and have everyone back and healthy while shooting so well against a really solid team was a big confidence booster.”
Leading South Loup in scoring with 19 points was Megan Donegan. Also in double figures on the night was Pandorf with 14 points and Bailey Schwarz with 11 points.
For S-E-M, it was O’Neill finishing with 15 points, and Abbie Rohde had 9 points. McFarland and Reiter each had five rebounds.
Both teams were back in action on Jan. 19. The Mustangs played on the road at D1 No. 5 Anselmo-Merna and South Loup were at home in Arnold vs Arcadia-Loup City.
“We are definitely in a tougher part of our schedule,” John Rohde said. “We are just taking it a game at a time and preparing the best we can for each game. We need these tough games to push us to get better and prepare for a tough FKC tournament and post-season.”