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HARTINGTON — Hartington-Newcastle hosted a Holiday Tournament and earned the title with wins over Lutheran High Northeast on Dec. 28 and a win over West Holt on Dec. 27.
The Lady Wildcats defeated Lutheran High Northeast, 41-32 in a sluggish game where HNS just kept plugging away.
“It was a slow and sloppy first quarter but I thought we played pretty well defensively,” Lady Wildcat coach Grant Rolfes said. “We battled some foul trouble in the second half and got some crucial minutes off the bench from Karissa Bruning. McKenzie Bruning was getting a lot of the defensive focus but did a nice job staying composed and making the right passes back out.”
Hartington-Newcastle responded from a 13-6 deficit after the first quarter by doubling its offensive output in the second frame and holding the Lady Eagles to just two buckets to grab an 18-17 lead at the halftime buzzer.
The Lady Wildcat defense held Lutheran High to a single basket in the third then outscored the Lady Eagles 15-13 in the final eight minutes to post their fifth win of the season.
McKenzie Bruning paced the Lady Wildcat offense with 17 points, Vayda Lippert added 10 and Ella Eickhoff and Maddie Steffen each had four points.
Bruning completed the double-double by pulling down 11 rebounds, Steffen had nine and Lippert and Alejandra Reyes each grabbed seven missed shots. Reyes also dished out five assists.
“As a team, I thought we rebounded well, pulling down 51,” said Rolfes. “The offensive rebounds were probably the difference in the game, we were plus 15 on the offensive glass.”
In the first tourney game for Hartington-Newcastle, the Lady Wildcats got defensive to take care of the Lady Huskies.
Holding West Holt to just 32 points while scoring 40 to take a 40-32 win.
“Defense set the tone for us in this one,” said the coach. “I thought we played our best defensive game of the year. West Holt is a talented team and I thought we competed really well and got a nice win.”
HNS was clinging to a 16-15 lead heading into the halftime locker room and only added a point to the advantage after the third period. The Lady Wildcats outscored West Holt 13-7 in the final quarter and posted the win.
Lippert paced the Lady Wildcats with 18 points, all of them in the second half, and McKenzie Bruning added 14.
Bruning and Lippert just missed double-doubles with Bruning hauling down nine rebounds and Lippert grabbing eight. Lippert also handed out five assists and had three steals.
“McKenzie Bruning had a very efficient first half and Vayda Lippert had a really nice second half,” Rolfes said. “Many of Vayda’s second half points came from the free throw line.”
The Lady Wildcats will open a three-game home stand, hosting Randolph Jan. 3, Archangels Catholic Jan. 4 and Bloomfield Jan. 7.
HNS 6 12 8 15 —41 LHNE 13 4 2 13 —32 HNS LHNE FG 14-39 9-40 FT 7-19 5-13 3PT 2-12 3-8 Reb 53 24 TOs 32 23
SCORING
HNS - McKenzie Bruning, 17; Vayda Lippert, 10; Maddie Steffen, 4; Ella Eickhoff, 4; Hazel Hochstein, 2; Alejendra Reyes, 2; Karissa Bruning, 2. LHNE - Reagan Lewis, 9; Chloe Spence, 8; McKenna Wasson, 4; Faith Baumgartel, 3; Liv Chapman, 3; Lexie Dinkel, 2.
REBOUNDS
HNS - McKenzie Bruning, 11; Maddie Steffen, 9; Vayda Lippert, 7; Alajandra Reyes, 7; Hazel Hochstein, 5; Ella Eickhoff, 5; Karissa Bruning, 3; Kloe Fischer, 3. LHNE - Reagan Lewis, 4; Juliana Rojas, 3; Lexie Dinkel, 3; Faith Baumgertel, 2; McKenna Wesson, 2; Chloe Spence, 1; Liv Chapman, 1.
ASSISTS
HNS - Alejendra Reyes, 5; Maddie Steffen, 4; Vayda Lippert, 1; Karissa Bruning, 1. LHNE - Faith Baumgartel, 3; Reagan Lewis, 1; Chloe Spence, 1.
STEALS
HNS - Vayda Lippert, 2; Hazel Hochstein, 1; Ella Eickhoff, 1; Alejendra Reyes, 1. LHNE - Lexie Dinkel, 3; Chloe Spence, 3; Juliana Rojas, 2; Liv Chapman, 2; Leah Meyer, 1; McKenna Wasson, 1. HNS 8 8 11 13 —40 West Holt 6 9 10 7 — 32 HNS West Holt FG 16-26 10-40 FT 8-14 9-12 3PT 0-7 1-10 Reb 29 23 TOs 30 19
SCORING
HNS - Vayda Lippert, 18; McKenzie Bruning, 14; Ella Eickhoff, 6; Maddie Steffen, 2. WH -Avery Nemitz, 9; London Konrad, 8; Pavan Larson, 5; Hollynn Konrad, 4; Kayli Monasterio,. 3; Monica Chavez, 3.
REBOUNDS
HNS - McKenzie Bruning, 9; Vayda Lippert, 8; Maddie Steffen, 3; Ella Eickhoff, 3; Hazel Hochstein, 1; Kloe Fischer, 1; Avery Nemetz, 2; Pavan Larson, 1.
ASSISTS
HNS - Vayda Lippert, 5; McKenzie Bruning, 2; Hazel Hochstein, 1. WH Holynn Konrad, 3; Avery Nemetz, 3; Pavan Larson,1; London Konrad, 1.
STEALS
HNS - Vayda Lippert, 3; McKenzie Bruning, 2; Hazel Hochstein, 1; Maddie Steffen, 1. WH - Hollyn Konrad, 5; Pavan Larson, 3; London Konrad, 3; Avery Nemetz, 2; Monica Chavez, 1.
The Pendragons outscored the Trojans 17-5 from there to claim the win.
Cedar Catholic was set to take on Winnebago for fifth place on Dec. 30 before starting the new year in the Knight Classic on Jan. 2 and Jan. 4 at Fremont Bergan.
Cedar Catholic 26 23 19 11 — 79 South Sioux 5 18 9 10 — 42
p=POINTS, r=REBOUNDS, a=ASSISTS, s=STEALS, b=BLOCKS.
CEDAR (3-3): Mason Baller 3-6 1-1 8p, 5r, 1a, 1s, 1b; Hunter Bensen 1-2 0-0 2p, 1r; Keyton Arens 0-1 1-2 1p, 1r; Jaymison Cattau 5-8 5-8 17p, 3r, 6a, 3s, 1b; Braeden Reifenrath 3-6
1-1 7p, 7r, 1a; Nolan Becker 9-18 7-8 25p, 7r, 3a, 3s; Gavin Klug 0-0 0-0 0p, 1b; Micah Cattau 0-3 0-0 0p, 2r, 1s; Breiton Whitmire 3-8 2-2 8p, 1r, 4a, 1s, 1b; Aaron Wortmann 2-5 0-0
5p, 5r, 1s; Grady Haberer 1-1 0-0 2p, 1r; Kighter Wortmann 1-2 0-0 2p, 4r, 1a; Jared Rutar
0-2 0-0 0p, 1r; Will Steffen 1-1 0-0 2p, 2r.
SOUTH SIOUX CITY (3-5): Paul Turner 3-10 3-3 9p, 3r, 1a, 2s; Prestin Blackhawk 2-12
2-2 9p, 3r, 2a, 1s; Reece Stockton 0-0 0-0 0p, 1a; Jamison Housman 6-10 0-0 16p, 2r, 1a,
1s; Akram Ibrahim 1-1 0-0 3p, 2r, 3b; John Tramp 1-2 0-0 2p, 2r; Nabil Yussuf 0-2 0-0 0p,
1r, 2s; Xavier Rodriguez 0-4 0-0 0p, 1a; Jagger Sims 0-4 0-0 0p, 2r, 1a; Jaden Painter 1-7
1-2 3p, 4r, 1b. Cedar 5 8 15 8 — 36 Pender 10 12 13 17 — 52
p=POINTS, r=REBOUNDS, a=ASSISTS, s=STEALS, b=BLOCKS.
CEDAR: 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.
