Coyotes victorious in home double header with Mustangs
MERNA - Anselmo-Merna was able to pull out all the stops on Jan. 19 as they defeated Sumner-Eddyville-Miller in back to back games at home. In the girl’s game, the D1 No. 6 Coyotes won 48-31 over the D2. No. 7 Mustangs. Despite a furious comeback in the boy’s game by S-E-M, A-M held on to win 60-51.
The biggest factor in the girl’s game was a dominant first quarter by the Coyotes. They outscored the Mustangs 23-9.
A big reason for that hot start was A-M’s leading scorer this year Jaide Chandler. She knocked down a three to give the Coyotes a 3-0 edge.
Trailing 5-0, S-E-M tried to get something going with a driving layup by Mikah O’Neill as the lead was cut back to one possession.
That didn’t last long with a three straight on by point guard Kirsten Myers. Later on, good passing by A-M resulted in an easy bucket underneath for Macy Miller.
At the end of the quarter, Adi McFarland for the Mustangs and Kirsten Myers for the Coyotes traded buckets.
“SEM is a very solid team,” A-M girls Coach Trent Kirchmann said. “We knew and discussed as a team that we had to get out to a hot start. We needed to start intense and play confident and when we go out right away and grabbed a 12-3 lead our girls set the tone that we asked them to. When Jaide Chandler hit that first three in the first ten seconds of the game it sparked something in the rest of the girls and they all played hard and with confidence and it was great to see.”
Like most games, this season, A-M’s rebounding ability was a big advantage for them. On a possession with multiple shots put up and missed, Kaitlyn Jacquot got a rebound and basket underneath extending the Coyotes lead to 25-11.
Despite holding A-M under ten points in the second, S-E-M couldn’t make any true dent in the lead with their inability to score.
At the free-throw line, O’Neill made one of two for one of the five points the Mustangs scored in the quarter.
If there was ever an indication of how the game was going, the final shot of the half was the best representation of it, as Myers banked in a three before the buzzer for the Coyotes. At the break, A-M led 31-14.
The closest that S-E-M got to cutting the deficit to under ten points came at the beginning of the third quarter when the Mustangs scored six points in a row.
Faith Hernadez made two free throws and then Abbie Rohde was able to convert a steal into a layup. With the ball up top, O’Neill was able to blow by defenders as she got to the hoop for a layup.
Trailing by 14 in the final seconds of the third, Hernandez was able to get out of the corner and make a layup making it 35-22.
Just like the big three to start the game, Chandler knocked down another clutch shot early in the fourth to extend the Coyote’s advantage. Off the bench, Adyson Priest made a three-pointer to solidify the win.
According to S-E-M girls Coach John Rohde, the issue in the loss was the team’s inability to adjust to what A-M was doing to start the game. It is something they will continue to work upon as the season progresses.
“They were on fire that first quarter and we changed a couple of things and ended up staying pretty much even the rest of the game,” John Rohde said. “I need to do a better job with getting our team adjusted a little quicker. We just got in a hole and we kept up with them after the first quarter but couldn’t chip away at the lead enough.”
Leading the Coyotes in scoring was Chandler with 15 points and Kirsten Myers with 14 points. O’Neill led the Mustangs with 17 points and Hernandez finished with 13.
In the boy’s action, it was a similar situation for the Mustangs. Trailing 9-7 after the first quarter of play, the wheels fell off for S-E-M in the second.
It began with Carson Lebhart for A-M and Tucker Whitesel for the Mustangs hitting three-pointers on back-toback possessions. Shots from behind the arch continued to go in as Dalton Duryea knocked down a triple to make it 17-11 in favor of the Coyotes.
From there, A-M cashed in at the free-throw line as Kade Safranek made two shots. A deep two in the corner by Joel Finney increased the lead to 29-17.
A layup while being fouled for Wyat Lambertson gave the Coyotes their biggest advantage yet at 31-18 at the half.
When everything was said and done the Mustangs were outscored 2211 in the second quarter.
“First credit to them, they played some really good defense and brought their A-game early,” S-E-M boys Coach Darby Line said. “We were without Carson Rohde and I think it took a half for us to figure out how to play without him. We have some other guys that can score, but it just took us a while to gain the confidence to play without him in the game.”
The Mustangs would not go away easily and put together a much better second half.
It began with Whitesel making a three and Jayson Guthard making a shot in the lane while falling over. He followed that up by with a layup while being fouled. After the made free throw S-E-M trailed 41-32.
A-M was able to close out the third strong with a basket inside by Lambertson bringing the score to 43-35 heading to the fourth quarter.
The intensity the Mustangs played with in the third carried over to the final frame, as Jayson Guthard made a layup off a steal. After a free-throw by Jayson Guthard, the lead was down to four for the Coyotes at 43-39.
That was as close as it would get. A layup by Elijah Downey and a three-pointer on consecutive possessions put the game out of reach.
“I thought for the past few games we had nice stretches we just would have a quarter that would put us out of the game,” “Against S-E-M I thought we put 3 and 1/2 quarters together which put us in a good position to win the game. When they put a run together in the third quarter and fourth I thought we responded well, we took our foot off the gas and got tentative which I thought allowed them back in the game. Fortunately, we started attacking and took control of the game back.”
Scoring wise, A-M was very balanced. Duryea led the Coyotes with 14 points, Garrett Porter and Safranek had ten, Leibhart finished with eight, and Carter Johnson and Lambertson each had six.
S-E-M also had multiple players in double figures as well. Kellen Eggleston finished with 13 points, Whitesel had 12, Line had 11, and Jayson Guthard had ten points.
The Coyotes take part in the MNAC Conference Tournament this week and S-E-M travels to Amherst on Jan. 28.
1. Tatum Kapustka of Arcadia-Loup City looks to pass the ball against South Loup on Jan. 19. Kapustka finished with one rebound and two steals in the contest. Loleta Connell 2. Faith Hernandez of S-E-M looks to get to the hoop as Hadlee Safranek of Anselmo-Merna attempts to block her. Hernandez had six points in the game and Safranek finished with four. 3. Jayson Guthard of S-E-M looks to put a shot in against Anselmo-Merna on Jan. 19. With leading scorer Carson Rohde out, Guthard was a great presence down low scoring ten points in the contest.
4. Harley Myers of Ansley-Litchfield looks to dribble by Landyn Cole of South Loup during the teams match up on Jan. 21. Myers finished with six points for the Spartans and Cole had two points for the Bobcats. 5. Eli Powers of Broken Bow looks to get Owen Thorberg of Mullen on his back at 170 pounds during the South Loup Invite in Callaway on Jan. 22. Powers ended up pinning Thorberg in 0:55. 6. Jackson Henry of Ansley-Litchfield boxes out Owen Stallbaumer of South Loup during the first half of their game played in Arnold on Jan. 21. The Spartans ended up winning the game by a final of 43-32 to improve to 13-2 on the season. 7. Eli Paxton of Mullen attempts to pin his opponent from Hi-Line at the South Loup Invite. He ended up winning the match by pin in 0:59. 8. Ethan Kipp of Twin Loup looks to flip his opponent on his back during the South Loup Invite. Kipp ended up going 3-2 on the day and was just short of medaling at 120 pounds.