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HARTINGTON — The Hartington- Newcastle Lady Wildcats split the first two games of the 2025 portion of the schedule with a win over Randolph, 56-14 on Jan. 3, and a loss to one of the top teams in all of Class D2, Archangels Catholic, 54-21, on Jan. 4.
Both games were played in Hartington.
In the game with the Lady Defenders, both teams’ defenses were tough in the first eight minutes.
By the first rest stop, Archangels Catholic was clinging to a 9-4 lead, but the Lady Defenders turned up the defensive heat in the second frame.
“We knew this game would be tough,” Lady Wildcat coach Grant Rolfes said. “Archangels is always a team that pressures you and plays very hard. I didn’t feel like I had us ready to play in this one and their defensive pressure really bothered us. They forced us into bad passes and turnovers that led to easy baskets.”
The pressure got more intense in the second half and specifically in the third period when the Lady Defenders limited Hartington-Newcastle to a single bucket.
The Lady Wildcats did outscore Archangels in the final frame, but the damage was done.
Vayda Lippert scored eight points in the game for the Lady Wildcats while Maddie Steffen tossed in seven.
McKenzie Bruning grabbed nine rebounds and Lippert handed out three assists.
The Lady Wildcats held the Lady Cardinals scoreless in the first quarter while scoring eighteen points of their own to put the game out of reach early on Jan. 3 against Randolph.
HNS led 28-4 at the intermission and 43-8 heading into the final period.
“It was good to see some of the younger girls get some minutes and do some nice things,” said Rolfes. “Balanced scoring is always nice to see too.”
Lippert led the balanced attack with 15 points, Steffen had 11 and McKenzie Bruning chipped in with nine.
Karissa Bruning pulled down nine rebounds in the contest and Lippert recorded five steals.
The Lady Wildcats were set to welcome Bloomfield to town on Jan. 7 before hitting the road to take on Elkhorn Valley in GNAC action in Tilden on Jan. 10. Tri County Northeast comes to Hartington on Jan. 16.
HNS (7-3) 4 6 2 9 - 21 AC (7-3) 9 20 17 8 - 54 HNS : Vayda Lippert 3-10 2-2 8; Hazel Hochstein 0-2 0-0 0; Alejandra Reyes 0-1 0-0 0; Karissa Bruning 1-4 0-2 2; Ella Eickhoff 0-1 0-0 0; McKenzie Bruning 2-9 0-0 4; Maddie Steffen 3-10 0-0 7; Katelyn Uldrich 0-1 0-0 0; Ziva Stratman 0-1 0-0 0. HNS (7-3) 18 10 15 13 - 56 RHS (0-9) 0 4 4 6 - 14 HARTINGTON-NEWCASTLE: Lippert 7-8 1-2 15; Hochstein 2-6 0-2 5; Reyes 1-3 0-0 2; K. Bruning 3-9 0-2 6; Kloe Fischer 0-1 2-4 2; Eickhoff 3-10 0-0 6; M. Bruning 4-7 1-2 9; Steffen 5-14 1-2 11; Uldrich 0-0 0-2; Stratman 0-3 0-0 0.
