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WAYNE — Cedar Catholic lost its opening game 52-46 to undefeated Pender in the Elkhorn Valley Bank Great Northeast Nebraska Shootout at Wayne State College’s Rice Auditorium, but responded in the consolation bracket to advance to Monday’s fifth place game.
After dropping the opener to Pender, the Trojans rolled to a 79-42 win over South Sioux City to end up in the consolation finals against Winnebago.
Against the Cardinals, Cedar Catholic rebounded from a sub-par performance against the Pendragons the day before.
“We played with the right mindset for a majority of the game,” said Trojan coach, Nick Haselhorst. “We were aggressive defensively, we cut to the basket with a purpose and we passed the ball well.”
Cedar Catholic shot considerably better against South Sioux City than they did against Pender, making good on 25-of-50 attempts inside the 3-point line, led by Nolan Becker who poured in 25 points, including 9-for-18 from the field and 7-of-8 from the foul line.
Jaymison Cattau added 17 on 5-of-8 shooting from the field and dished out six assists.
Breiton Whitmire and Mason Baller each chipped in eight points. Becker and Braeden Reifenrath each grabbed seven missed shots to lead the Trojans in that category.
In the opener with Pender, Cedar ran into a disciplined team that came into the game undefeated.
“Give credit to Pender, they simply outworked and out hustled us in all facets of the game,” Cedar Catholoic coach Nick Haselhorst said. “The rebounding disparity had a profound impact on the game.
Results and fortune favor the aggressor and on this day, that was not us.”
The Pendragons grabbed an early lead at 10-5 after the first frame then extended the advantage to 22-13 at the intermission.
The Trojans whittled away in the third quarter and got to within four early in the fourth quarter after a Jaymison Cattau 3-pointer, which made the score 35-31 in favor of Pender.
“We put our foot down and got to within four early in the fourth and had the momentum,” the coach said.
Momentum quickly swung back to Pender as Cedar followed that run with three consecutive possessions with turnovers which led to quick points for Pender.
“Pender did a really good job of finishing the game,” Wortmann said. “We missed a few assignments and they took advantage of our mistakes. We need to take advantage of our length more and get better each game, each practice, they showed us the best and now we know what to do to get to their level. We were with them for a while but just couldn’t finish.”
Anisten Wortmann led a fairly balanced Lady Trojan attack with 10 points. Bernecker added eight, Arens and Walter tacked on seven each and Lammers finished with five.
After the fifth-place game in Wayne, the Lady
CEDAR CATHOLIC: Wortmann 10; Bernecker 8; Arens 7; Walter 7; Lammers 5; Hochstein 3; Olivia Kleinschmit 1.p=POINTS, r=REBOUNDS, a=ASSISTS, s=STEALS, b=BLOCKS. CEDAR CATHOLIC: Mason Baller 1-4 0-0 2p, 2r, 3a, 1s; Hunter Bensen 1-2 0-0 2p, 3r, 2s; Jaymison Cattau 2-8 0-0 6p, 3r, 3b; Braeden Reifenrath 3-5 0-1 7p, 4r, 6a, 1s; Nolan Becker 4-14 1-3 10p, 3r, 3a, 2s1b; Micah Cattau 0-2 0-0 0p, 2r; Breiton Whitmire 1-3 0-0 2p, 2r, 1s; Aaron Wortmann 3-5 0-0 7p, 1a, 1s; Kighter Wortmann 0-2 0-0 0p, 1r; Jared Rutar 0-0 0-0 0p, 1r, Will Steffen 0-0 0-0 0p, 2r. PENDER: Trevor Trimble 1-6 6-8 8p, 4r, 4a, 2s; Reece Heineman 0-0 0-0 0p, 1r; Owen Kneifl 4-8 0-0 9p, 6r, 1a; Carter Hansen 2-4 0-0 5p, 2r, 1s; Alex Roth 2-12 3-5 7p, 7r, 3a, 1s; Jake Schuster 1-1 0-0 3p; Trent Hansen 2-8 0-0 4p, 7r; Zander Welsh 2-10 2-5 7p, 3r, 2a, 3s; Ryan Krueger 4-8 1-2 9p, 10r, 3a, 2s. Dec. 27,
