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WAYNE - After a semifinals loss to the eventual champion, Pender, the Cedar Catholic Lady Trojans earned third place in the Elkhorn Valley Bank Great Northeast Nebraska Shootout with a win over Plattsmouth on Dec. 30 here at Rice Auditorium.
The Lady Trojans defeated the Lady Blue Devils of Plattsmouth 60-48 for the third-place hardware after dropping the semifinal contest to undefeated Pender 63-35.
Against the Lady Blue Devils, Cedar Catholic entered the second period clinging to a 13-12 lead.
The Lady Trojans went up 13-10 with 4.9 seconds left in the first eight minutes after a couple of charity tosses by Katy Jones.
Plattsmouth answered with two gifters of its own to ed the frame and send the teams to the second period with the one-point advantage for Cedar Catholic.
Anisten Wortmann, who paced the Lady Trojans with 19 points in the contest to complete a 39-point scoring explosion in the final two games of the tournament, tied the score 14-14 with a free throw early in the second quarter.
The Lady Blue Devils then went on a 5-0 mini-run to take a 19-14 lead of their own.
Jones converted 1-of-2 free throws, the second of which was missed and rebounded by Addison Walter, who was fouled trying to put the ball back in the basket.
Walter converted both fouls shots and with 4:26 left in the half, Cedar Catholic was within two, 19-17.
Walter tied the game with a pair of free tosses with 3:46 left then hit from downtown 32 seconds later to give the Lady Trojans the lead 22-19.
Wortmann stole the ball and was fouled, converting the first of two foul shots then Walter grabbed the carom off of the missed shot and put it back in to complete an 11-0 run by the Lady Trojans.
Samantha Pick ended the half with a drive in the paint resulting in a basket to send the teams to the intermission with the Lady Trojans in front, 30-21.
Wortmann finished off an 11-2 run to open the second half with a 3-pointer, which made it 48-23 almost midway through the frame and Cedar Catholic led by 13 at the third-quarter rest stop.
The Lady Blue Devils would get to within eight with 1:01 left on the clock after a couple of foul shots, but a couple of Jones free throws and a Wortmann layup on a fast break sealed the game at the 60-48 final score.
In the semifinals, Pender showed why it was undefeated and sitting on top of Class C2, jumping out to a 20-4 lead after the first eight minutes of the game.
The lead was 36-13 at the end of the first half, but Wortmann scored six consecutive points in the third quarter to cut into the lead.
The Cedar Catholic freshman, who finished with 20 points, converted an old-fashioned 3-point-play, hit a 12-foot jumper in the paint then stole a pass and was fouled, converting 1-of-2 charity tosses to make the score 37-19 midway through the third period.
With just under three minutes left in the third she canned a long ball, but the damage had been done and Pender moved on to Saturday’s final by the 63-35 final.
The Lady Trojans are set to take on Osmond-Randolph Jan. 2 on the road before heading to Laurel on Jan. 4 to take on the Lady Bears.
They will have a home date with Wynot on Jan. 9.
Plattsmouth 12 9 11 16 - 48 Cedar Catholic 13 17 15 15 - 60 PLATTSMOUTH (4-7): Jolie Dix 4 6-6 14; Chloe Adkins 1 1-1 3; Aimee Dasher 2 0-0 6; Mila Wehrbein 1 2-2 5; Ashleigh Widick 4 1-2 9; Averi Winters 3 2-5 8; Stella Campin 0 3-4 3. CEDAR CATHOLIC (4-7): Bailey Hochstein 1 0-0 2; McKinlee Lammers 0 2-2 2; Katy Jones 2 6-8 10; Lauren Bernecker 3 1-2 9; Anisten Wortmann 6 6-9 19; Samantha Pick 1 0-0 2; Grace Wortmann 1 0-0 2; Addison Walter 4 5-10 14. Cedar Catholic 4 9 9 13 - 35 Pender 20 16 11 16 - 63 CEDAR CATHOLIC: A. Wortmann 7 2-4 20; Hochstein 1 0-0 3; Lammers 0 3-4 3; Walter 1 1-2 3; Katelyn Arens 1 0-0 2; Pick 1 0-0 2; Jones 0 1-2 1; Bernecker 0 1-2 1. PENDER (11-0): Maya Dolliver 8 5-6 22; Madalyn Dolliver 5 0-0 15; Hadley Walsh 2 5-6 9; Allie Rutar 3 0-0 8; Kyla Krusemark 2 0-0 6; Avery Wegner 1 0-0 3.
