Broken Bow, Mullen at Girls State BB
LINCOLN - Experience is everything when it comes to State Tournament time. In Broken Bow’s first-round game of the C1 State Tournament on March 3, this was put on full display as North Bend Central used a fast start and never turned back in a 50-29 victory.
“I feel like it was one of those things where we were focused on everything around us instead of what we should have been, which was on the floor,” Broken Bow Coach Kelly Cooksley said. “I’m not taking anything away from them, but we certainly didn’t help ourselves in the game.”
The Indians definitely had their work cut out for them coming into the game against the Tigers who have been at state the last three seasons and were coming off winning
the C1 State Title in 2020.
Broken Bow who was making their first state trip since 2003, looked rattled by this early on in the contest.
After a layup inside on the first possession, the Tigers Hannah Williams was able to knock down a three to put North Bend ahead 5-0.
The Indians finally got on the board when Kali Staples knocked down a free-throw. Kassidy Cyboron’s floater in the lane made it 8-3 in favor of the Tigers.
Trailing 10-3, Kya Scott was off the mark on her jump shot. Her sister Kailyn was able to grab the rebound underneath and make a basket to cut the deficit to 10-5.
At the end of the first quarter, sisters Sydney and Kaitlyn Emanuel were able to make backto-back buckets to give North Bend a 19-7 lead after one-quarter of play.
The second quarter did not start well for Broken Bow with Staples picking up her third foul early in the quarter. This limited her playing time for the rest of the half.
“That didn’t help us,” Cooksley said. “She was second-team all-state last year and when she is on the bench it hurts us because she is an amazing ball handler.”
Kaitlyn Emmanuel opened the quarter up with the first bucket, and then on the ensuing possession, Kya Scott connected on a two-point shot. After another layup in transition by Kaitlyn Emmanuel, the Tigers were up 25-9.
Callie White was able to get a shot to go late in the half to bring the score to 27-13 heading into the break.
To make a run in the second half, Broken Bow was going to need a fast start out of the gates.
That ended up not happening as the Emmanuel sisters continued to assert their dominance in the game. Sydney made an easy layup for the first points of the third, and Kaitlyn followed that up with a layup of her own.
Kya Scott answered with a three-pointer. After three made freethrows between Kailyn Scott and Cyboron the Indians trailed 35-20.
The Tigers ended the quarter on a 4-0 run and took a 39-20 lead to the final quarter of action.
For the first time in the game, Broken Bow was able to start the quarter off with the first basket, when Kya Scott connected on another three-pointer. Later on, Staples made a layup in transition and Emma Schall pulled down a rebound that resulted in points for Kailyn Scott, making it 49-27 in favor of the Tigers.
With the game out of reach, both teams subbed in their bench players in the final minutes. Coming through with the final basket of the game was freshman Cassidy Schweitzer on a layup.
Broken Bow’s leading scorer in the game was Kya Scott with 13 points and Kailyn Scott with six points. Staples ended with five points, Cyboron had three points, and Schweitzer finished with two points to round out the scoring for the Indians.
Broken Bow never led at any point in the game and was outscored by North Bend in every quarter throughout the contest. A few days later on March 6, the Tigers repeated as the C1 State Champions with a thrilling come from behind win to defeat Hastings St. Cecilia 51-49.
The Indians finished the 2020-2021 campaign with a 23-2 record, they were the Southwest Conference Champions for the fourth straight year and were the C1-5 District Champions. Over the last two seasons, Broken Bow has finished with a record of 46-5.
This is in large part thanks to the seniors on this year’s team Staples, Cyboron, Schall, Madison Jackson, and Graycee Oeltjen. They have been leaders this year and have helped this program grow throughout the entire rebuild that has taken place.
“When I got here, they were my first class here after the school had backto-back five-win seasons,” Cooksley said. “It started with a .500 record and somehow we won the conference tournament that year. They have just continued to grow and helped us get to three straight district finals. They are definitely the pillars of our turnaround and are the main reason we went from back-to-back fivewin seasons to playing in the Pinnacle Bank Arena.”
Cooksley stated that he is very optimistic about the future of this program in the coming years. The Indians have some young talent coming up and return a good core of players from this year’s team as well.
“We will be back,” Cooksley said. “We had to get that monkey off our back getting back here and we finally figured out how to do that. We’re going to keep getting better with some young kids coming up and we have some good returners.”