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HARTINGTON - The Hartington-Newcastle Lady Wildcat basketball team played against arguably the best team in Class C2 when the took on Crofton here Jan. 24.
The Lady Warriors made believers out of the Lady Wildcats as Crofton left little doubt as to the game’s outcome from early on.
In fact, Crofton sprinted to an early lead of 24-2 by the end of the opening eight minutes and extended the advantage to 38-7 by the intermission.
Crofton is really good and their fast start really put the game out of reach early,” said Lady Wildcat coach, Grant Rolfes. “We couldn’t get stops and couldn’t get baskets either. Credit to coach Moon and her program, they are preparing for another state championship run for sure. Very talented team.”
Maddie Steffen paced the HNS offense with nine points.
Prior to the Crofton game, Hartington-Newcastle took on Laurel-Concord-Coleridge.
The game was tight in the first quarter with the teams going to the first rest stop with the Lady Bears leading, 14-11. LCC exploded for 28 points in the second eight minutes and took a 42-22 lead into the locker room.
“We played much, much better against Laurel-Concord- Coleridge than we did in the previous game with Neligh-Oakdale,” Rolfes said. “We played with some energy. LCC is a talented team though and we couldn’t stick with their offensive firepower.”
Hazel Hochstein led the offensive attack for the Lady Cats pouring in 16 points on the evening. Steffen and Vayda Lippert each tossed in 13.
HNS opened the week with a 39-30 win over Neligh-Oakdale, where Rolfes wasn’t ‘head over heels’ about his team’s play in the game.
“Sometimes you play well and lose and sometimes you play poorly and win. That’s how I felt after this game,” said the coach. “The flow of the game was sluggish and we never really found a rhythm. But we did keep battling and got the win. I guess sometimes you just do what you have to do and move on.”
The HNS defense was on all night, holding Neligh-Oakdale to single digits in every quarter but the third and they put the game away by outscoring their opponent, 14-7, in the final eight minutes.
McKenzie Bruning led the way for the Lady ‘Cats with 19 points and recorded the double-double with 11 rebounds.
Crofton (15-2) 24 14 10 10 — 58 HNS (9-7) 2 5 4 4 — 15
HNS : Vayda Lippert 0-9 0-2 0; Hazel Hochstein 0-4 1-2 1; Alejandra Reyes 0-4 0-0 0; Karissa Bruning 1-3 1-2 3; Ella Eickhoff 1-2 0-1 2; Maddie Steffen 3-16 3-5 9. HNS (9-7) 11 11 12 17 - 51 LCC (7-10) 14 28 13 13 - 68
HNS: Lippert 5-9 3-4 13; Hochstein 4-13 5-8 16; Reyes 0-2 0-0 0; K. Bruning 1-3 2-6 4; Eickhoff 1-3 3-4 5; Steffen 3-10 7-8 13. HNS (9-7) 11 5 9 14 - 39 N-O (5-12) 4 8 11 7 - 30 HNS: Lippert 1-9 3-6 5; Hochstein 1-4 0-0 3; Reyes 1-1 0-0 3; Eickhoff 1-3 1-2 4; McKenzie Bruning 9-16 1-5 19; Steffen 2-10 1-4 5.
