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HARTINGTON - The Cedar Catholic girls ran into a buzz saw known as the Mid-State Conference Basketball Tournament this past week.
The Lady Trojans won the opening game they played in the tournament over Battle Creek then dropped a semifinal date with Guardian Angels Central Catholic and the third-place contest with Pierce.
Cedar Catholic and Pierce met for the second time this season in the third-place game of the Mid-State Tournament.
The Lady Trojans took the first game played on Jan. 17 at the Monsignor Werner Activities Center, 49-48, but the Lady Bluejays won this one, 49-42.
A frigid first half by Cedar Catholic allowed Pierce to build a lead, 22-14, by the halftime break, and the teams played to a draw in the third period.
The Lady Trojans did outscore their counterpart in the final quarter, but only by a point and Pierce grabbed the third-place plaque.
The Cedar Catholic defense limited the Lady Bluejays to just 34% shooting from the field and a 2-for-16 performance from beyond the 3-point line, but the Lady Trojan offense lagged behind which resulted in the loss.
Addison Walter and Anisten Wortmann put in 15 and 11 points respectively with Bailey Hochstein tossing in eight.
Wortmann hauled in six rebounds and Katelyn Arens collected five missed shots.
In the semifinals, Cedar Catholic had the unenviable task of taking on Guardian Angels Central Catholic for the second time in less than two weeks and this game proved to be similar to the first meeting.
The Lady Bluejays won by 20 back on Jan. 25 in a game played in West Point and defeated the Lady Trojans 66-31 to send them to the consolation game.
GACC was up 38-14 at the break and added 13 points to the Cedar deficit in the third frame.
The Lady Trojans again struggled offensively, having no player reaching double figures in the contest.
Wortmann led the way with nine points, Walter added seven and Arens tacked on four.
In the opening round, Cedar Catholic won a defensive battle over Battle Creek, 41-36.
Arens and Walter had solid games for the Lady Trojans. Walter finished with 13 points and six rebounds and handed out three assists, while Arens scored a dozen points, had eight rebounds and swiped a couple of steals.
Wortmann tossed in nine points and Lauren Bernecker corralled six missed shots.
The road doesn’t get any easier for Cedar as they were scheduled to hit the road to take on undefeated Elkhorn Valley on Feb. 11 before finishing the regular season with a trip to Battle Creek for another date with the Bravettes.
Cedar (12-9) 6 8 15 13 — 42 Pierce (15-7) 11 11 15 12 — 49 CEDAR CATHOLIC: Bailey Hochstein 2-4 3-3 8; McKinlee Lammers 1-5 0-0 2; Savannah Pick 0-0 0-2 0; Katelyn Arens 1-3 0-0 2; Lauren Bernecker 0-1 2-4 2; Anisten Wortmann 5-13 1-1 11; Camryn Loecker 1-2 0-0 2; Addison Walter 5-12 2-2 15. Cedar (12-9) 6 8 6 11 - 31 GACC (18-3) 20 18 19 9 - 66 CEDAR CATHOLIC: Hochstein 0-1 0-0 0; Lammers 0-2 2-2 2; Pick 0-2 2-2 2; Arens 2-5 0-0 4; L. Bernecker 0-4 0-0 0; Wortmann 3-5 2-2 9; Brynn Bernecker 1-3 0-0 2; Autumn Kathol 1-2 0-0 2; Madison Eickhoff 1-2 0-0 3; Camryn Loecker 0-1 0-0 0; Addison Walter 2-8 2-2 7.
