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HARTINGTON — Just about two weeks ago, the Hartington-Newcastle girls’ basketball team was sitting at 6-5 on the season and had won four consecutive games.
Then came some rougher seas, a loss to Homer on the road and a couple of losses this past week to Laurel-Concord-Coleridge also on the road, 42-37 on Jan. 17 and Crofton, 67-31 Jan. 20 in Hartington.
The Lady Warriors came to town battle tested and highly regarded.
They did little to deter from the “highly regarded” part of that statement as they won by the 36-point margin.
“Credit to Crofton,” Lady Wildcat coach Grant Rolfes said. “Coach (Maggie) Moon has them playing extremely well - they are very talented and play hard.”
To be fair, the Lady Warriors have only lost one game thus far on the season and are one of the top contenders for a state title in Class C2 come March.
Crofton led from wire-to-wire on its way to the win.
“They push the pace and have a deep bench,” Rolfes said. “We struggled to handle the pressure they apply and couldn’t match the speed they play with.”
Alivia Morten paced the Lady Wildcat offense with 13 points in the contest, McKenzie Bruning tossed in five.
Mani Lange and Zoey Gratzfeld each had four, Karli Bruning and Lauren Howell had two points apiece and Kennadi Peitz hit a foul shot.
McKenzie Bruning grabbed 11 rebounds Gratzfeld pulled down seven.
A turbulent third quarter was the demise of the Lady Wildcats in Laurel.
Hartington-Newcastle got off to a good start against LCC Morten splashed a long ball just 23 seconds into the game to make it 3-0 and after a Lady Bear bucket, Olivia Grutsch made her way in the paint for a basket with 6:31 left in the stanza.
The Lady Wildcats closed out the frame with a 10-7 advantage.
In the second eight minutes, Morten slashed to the basket for a layup to tie the score at 16-16 and after a Lady Bear bucket Hartington- Newcastle got back in the lead with a pair of Morten baskets.
Grutsch would score again later in the period but the Lady Bears made it to the intermission clinging to a lead.
The lead would grow to 10 in the fourth until Morten scored on the block and hit another trifecta to narrow the gap to five with 1:15 left on the clock.
LCC called a timeout with 49 seconds left and the Lady Wildcats forced a turnover to keep pushing towards the deficit. Morten drove to the basket down the left side of the lane and scored with 24.5 seconds remaining, but the Lady Bears hit a couple of free throws with 14.2 seconds left and Hartington- Newcastle turned the ball over to finish the scoring on the night. “We defended well but put them on the free throw line too often,” Rolfes said. “And we didn’t get on the line enough ourselves.” Morten finished with a game-high 21 points in the contest, McKenzie Bruning tossed in eight. Grutsch contributed four and Gratzfeld and Peitz each had a bucket.
HNS was scheduled to travel to Plainview Jan. 24 to take on the Lady Pirates in Lewis & Clark Conference action before taking on Winnebago at Hartington on Jan. 26.
The Lewis & Clark Conference Tournament is set to get underway Jan. 28 and will run until Feb. 6. The finals will be played at Rice Auditorium on the campus of Wayne State College.
HNS - Crofton SCORING
HNS -Alivia Morten, 13; McKenzie Bruning, 5; Mani Lange, 4; Zoey Gratzfeld,4; Karli Bruning, 2; Lauren Howell, 2; Kennadi Peitz, 1.
REBOUNDS
HNS - McKenzie Bruning, 11; Zoey Gratzfeld, 7; Olivia Grutsch, 6; Mani Lange, 3;Alivia Morten, 2; Kennadi Peitz, 2; Maddie Steffen, 1.
ASSISTS
HNS - McKenzie Bruning, 1; Maddie Steffen, 1; Lauren Howell, 1; Mani Lange, 1; Zoey Gratzfeld, 1. HNS - LCC SCORING
HNS - Alivia Morten, 21; McKenzie Bruning, 8; Olivia Grutsch, 4; Zoey Gratzfeld,2; Kennadi Peitz, 1.
REBOUNDS
HNS - McKenzie Bruning, 9; Olivia Grutsch, 6; Alivia Morten, 5; Mani Lange, 4; Zoey Gratzfeld, 1; Kennadi Peitz, 1; Lauren Howell, 1.
ASSISTS
HNS - Mani Lange, 6; Olivia Grutsch, 3; Lauren Howell, 2; Alivia Morten, 1.
