Lets make it four: Broken Bow earn’s fourth straight SWC Championship
KEARNEY- With their 52-33 win over Ainsworth on Jan. 30 at Kearney High, the Class C1 No. 2 Broken Bow girls basketball team won their fourth straight Southwest Conference Title. The Indians got there by first defeating Cozad 6226 on Jan. 27 and then Gothenburg 41-25 on Jan. 29.
“Our defense was phenomenal through the three conference games in the tournament,” Broken Bow Coach Kelly Cooksley said. “We held each team in the 20s and we shut out two really good players in the Gothenburg game and the Ainsworth game who were averaging close to double figures. Our girls came locked in defensively and that includes rebounding.”
In the Championship of the SWC, it was a rematch from earlier in the year between Broken Bow and Ainsworth. Back on Jan. 18, the Indians defeated the Bulldogs 62-48 at Ainsworth.
This time around the game wasn’t nearly that close with the Indians taking a 16-4 lead at the end of the first quarter. From there, it was no turning back as Broken Bow outscored the Bulldogs 37-18 the rest of the way.
The Indians ended up shooting 42.9% from the field in the game and Ainsworth was held to 22%. In their three combined games in the SWC Tournament, this season Broken Bow held their opponents to a 21.4% shooting average.
Another big stat in the game was the three-point shooting. The Indians connected on nine triples in the game where the Bulldogs only came up with one.
Leading Broken Bow in scoring in the game was Kailyn Scott with 22 points and nine rebounds. Her sister Kya Scott was also in double figures with 13 points and five rebounds.
To get an opportunity to play Ainsworth, Broken Bow first had to play Gothenburg in the semifinals the previous day at Kearney High.
Similar to the game against the Bulldogs, the Indians were able to suck the life out of the Swedes from the start by holding them scoreless and outscoring them 14-0. The game hovered around that same point total from there on out.
Kali Staples finished the game with 11 points, four rebounds, and three assists. Off the bench, Halle McCaslin finished with seven points and three steals.
The SWC Tournament started for the Indians at home on Wednesday vs Cozad. The game was originally supposed to be played on Jan. 25 but got pushed back two days because of heavy snow in the area.
Out of the gate, Callie White was able to make a jumper to give Broken Bow a 2-0 advantage. Staples followed that up with a driving bucket the next time down.
A basket by McCaslin and a layup by Kennedy Garcia concluded the scoring for the Indians in the first. After one-quarter of play, Broken Bow was up 18-8.
Staples was able to score the first basket of the second for the Indians and a few possessions later Kailyn Scott earned a steal that she turned into two points. Another steal and layup, this time by Kassidy Cyboron put the Indians ahead 30-11.
Right before halftime, Kaitlyn Scott made a jumper to give Broken Bow a 38-14 advantage.
The Indians continued to dominate the Haymakers in the second half with their relentless pressure and as a result, they outscored them 25-12. It was also good because everybody was able to get in the game and contribute to the victory.
“We did a great job of pushing the tempo, pressuring the ball, and we got a lot of deflections tonight that resulted in some steals and easy run-outs,” Cooksley said. “Kali Staples did a great job for us at finding the open person when she was in the open court as well.”
For the first this season McCaslin led Broken Bow in scoring with 18 points and seven rebounds. Kailyn Scott had eight points and Kennedy Garcia finished with six points.
Looking back at what the Indians have accomplished over the last four years, Cooksley stated their success started with the team four years ago. It helped build the foundation to where they are at today.
“It all started with our seniors four years ago, they chose not to be part of a rebuild and shoot for the moon that year,” Cooksley said. “We won that conference title when we probably weren’t expected to and since then each team doesn’t want to be the one to let it go.”
Besides winning four straight conference titles, Broken Bow currently has a 29 game conference winning streak. They haven’t lost to a conference opponent since losing at Cozad back on Feb. 9, 2018.
The Indians will look to increase that win streak to 30 games when they take on Ogallala at home on Jan. 6.