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HARTINGTON - The Hartington-Newcastle Lady Wildcat basketball team reeled off three wins over the past week.
The Lady Wildcats opened the week with a win over Lewis & Clark Conference foe, Tri County Northeast in Allen on Dec. 12, 51-35, then defeated Walthill in Hartington 55-34 before taking care of Osmond-Randolph on Dec. 16 to end the week on the right side of a .500 record at 4-3.
In the game against the Osmond-Randolph Hawks, the Lady Wildcats used double-digit scoring from Zoey Gratzfeld and Olivia Grutsch with 16 and 11 points respectively.
Gatzfeld accomplished her game on 8-for-12 shooting from the field while Grutsch added eight rebounds and three steals to her afternoon.
“Olivia and Zoey had great games for us scoring and rebounding, both,” Hartington-Newcastle coach, Grant Rolfes said. “Our balance on the offensive end is fun to see.”
Maddie Steffen ended the game with nine points and eight rebounds, Lauren Howell and McKenzie Bruning each had four points and Mani Lange had a bucket.
Howell also had three steals, Grutsch handed out four assists and Lange, Hazel Hochstein and Gratzfeld each had two steals.
In the second win, over Walthill, the Lady Wildcats came out swinging and established a 15-2 lead after the first frame. The lead would grow to 30-16 by the halftime buzzer and 44-25 after three before settling on the 55-34 final tally.
Hartington-Newcastle had three players score in double digits led by Steffen who fired in 17 points on the evening.
“Balanced scoring is great to see and three players in double figures really set us up for success,” Rolfes said. “And we had a great defensive games from Mani Lange.”
McKenzie Bruning added 13 points and just missed a double-double with nine rebounds. Howell tossed in a dozen points and snared six boards.
Grutsch had seven caroms, four assists and four steals; Lange handed out five assists and swiped five steals in the game.
In the win over Tri County Northeast, the Lady Wildcats used a strong defensive effort from the entire team and another three-player, double-digit scoring night to turn away the Lady Wolfpack by the 51-35 final.
Tri County Northeast led at the end of the first eight minutes 11-10, but a 5-0 spurt by the Lady Wildcats put them in front 15-11. A Grutsch 3 with 6:22 left in the first half ended the run.
The Lady Wolfpack regained the lead at 16-15, but a Grutsch step-through shot inside followed by a Grutsch assist to McKenzie Bruning inside put HNS in front heading to the intermission, 19-16.
TCNE took the lead again early in the third quarter when Briley Anderson scored inside to make it 2221, but Grutsch converted one of two charity tosses and Bruning hit a reverse lay up with 3:41 left in the third and the Lady Cats were up for good, 24-22.
Steffen grabbed an offensive rebound and put it back in the basket to make it 26-22 and a free throw from Bruning made it 27-22 with 2:36 left in the third.
Hartington-Newcastle closed out the third frame with a 31-26 lead then outscored the Lady Wolfpack 20-9 in the final eight minutes to come away with the win.
“I was really excited for the girls to get that win,” Rolfes said. “It set us up for a great week of basketball.”
Grutsch led the way offensively with 16 points while McKenzie Bruning and Steffen each added 12.
Steffen scored half of her points from the free throw line down the stretch which helped the Lady Wildcats close out the game.
HNS was set to play its final game before the Christmas break, hosting Boyd County on Dec. 19.
The Lady Wildcats are at the Stanton Tournament Dec. 28-29 and take on Lutheran High NE in the opening round.
HNS (4-3) 15 14 10 7 - 46 O-R (0-6) 8 3 8 8 - 27 P=Points, R=Rebounds, A=Assists, S=Steals, B=Blocks.
HARTINGTON-NEWCASTLE: Mani Lange 0-2 2-4 2P, 2R, 1A, 2S; Hazel Hochstein 1R, 2S; Alejandra Reyes 0-1 0-0 0P; Lauren Howell 2-4 0-4 4P; 1R, 1A, 3S; Olivia Grutsch 4-9 2-2 11P, 8R, 4A, 3S; Zoey Gratzfeld 8-12 0-0 16P, 6R, 1A, 2S; McKenzie Bruning 1-6 2-4 4P, 5R; Maddie Steffen 3-8 3-4 9P, 8R; Karissa Bruning 2R; Karli Bruning 0-1 0-0 0P, 1R, 1S.
OSMOND-RANDOLPH: Keli Aschoff 1-8 0-4 2P, 4R, 2A, 1S; Grace Gansebom 2-6 0-0 4P, 2S; Sophie Gansebom 4-12 0-1 8P, 5R, 2S; Caydence Krienert 0-4 0-0 0P, 1R; Carrie Kumm 0-3 0-0 0P, 1R; Kaleigh Miller 0-4 1-2 1P, 4R, 1A, 1S; Jessa Backer 0-1 2-4 2P, 1R; Brianna Kumm 0-3 0-2 0P, 1R, 1S. ; Macy Aschoff 4-12 2-6 10, 4R; Tessa Gardner 0-0 0-2 0P, 5R, 1A. HNS 15 15 14 11 - 55 WAL 2 14 9 9 - 34 HARTINGTON-NEWCASTLE: Lange 0-4 1-3 1P, 3R, 5A, 5S; Hochstein 0-0 1-2 1P, 1S; Reyes 0-3 0-0 0P, 4R, 1S; Howell 5-7 2-5 12P, 1R, 2S; Grutsch 1-10 1-2 3P, 7R, 4A, 4S; Gratzfeld 1-7 0-0 2P, 1R, 2S; M. Bruning 4-9 5-9 13P, 9R, 1A, 1S; Steffen 6-14 3-4 17P, 4R; Karli Bruning 1-3 4-6 6P, 3R, 2S. HNS 10 9 12 20 - 51 TCNE (1-5) 11 5 10 9 - 35 HARTINGTON-NEWCASTLE: Lange 2-5 0-2 4P, 2R, 4A, 6S; Reyes 0-0 0-0 0P, 1R; Howell 1-5 1-8 3P, 9R, 1A; Grutsch 6-11 1-2 16P, 7R, 4A, 3S; M. Bruning 5-10 2-6 12P, 4R, 1A, 4S; Steffen 3-15 6-8 12P, 4R, 2S.
