Chalk up two more wins for the Kimball High girls as they closed out the regular season this past weekend. On Friday night at Hemingford, the Lady Longhorns won 45-37, and then wrapped things up on the home court Saturday with a big 59-39 win over visiting Sutherland. With the weekend victories, the Lady Horns assured themselves of a winning season. This week they moved into sub-district play at Alliance, hoping to extend their season into a trip to Lincoln and the Nebraska State Tournament.

In the consolation finals of the recent Western Trails Conference tournament, Kimball slipped past Hemingford 9-48 to claim third place honors. This time around, in the Lady Bobcats home gym, Kimball made the win easier showing they are the most improved team with an 8 point margin of victory. With Kelby Dickerson hitting from outside with a pair of treys, and Tori Reader taking care of things inside with her 7 points, Kimball jumped out to a 16-7 first quarter lead, and that early start proved to be the difference. The Lady Horns pretty much held that margin throughout the remainder of the contest. In the fourth period, coach Ken Smith had his ladies work on their ball control game as they ran minutes off the clock and went to the foul line.

Reader led Kimball scoring with 12 points and pulled 8 rebounds. Dickerson ended with 3 treys and 9 points, had 3 boards, 3 steals, and 2 assists. Hannah Stull had 7 points with 1 three pointer, and 7 rebounds. Darbi Klinkhammer had 5 points, 5 rebounds, and 3 steals, Whitney Lockwood 4 points and 5 rebounds, Annie McCloud 3 points and 3 assists, Austyn Pedersen 3 with her trey, and Tori Hager 2. Coach Smith used an 8 player rotation with everyone contributing.

In team stats, Kimball was 12/19 at the foul line, 9/26 on two point field goals and 5/16 on three pointers, had 31 rebounds, 10 steals, 10 assists and 1 block, 16 turnovers, and 10 fouls.

Hemingford was 12/15 at the line, 12/57 from the field going 1/13 on three point attempts, had 35 rebounds, and 17 fouls. Brooke Foster was high for the Bobcats with 13, Kelsy Wood had 8, Briley Hannaford 7, Jayleen Forgey 7, and Katie Heitz 2.

Kimball  16 7 16 6-45

Hemingford 7 6 19 5-37

The Saturday night game with Sutherland was Senior Parent’s Night and the seven seniors made the most of their final appearance on their home court in front of their final home crowd. They beat a very good Sutherland team soundly and set a new school team record for three point field goals as they poured 11 treys through the nets enroute to the 20 point win. It was even more special for senior guard Hannah Stull who bettered the school individual single game record with her 6 treys! This improved on the old record of 5 held by three Lady Longhorns, including team mate Kelby Dickerson who shot her five just a couple of weeks back. In the pre-season interviews, coach Smith talked about how well he thought this group of ladies could shoot from the perimeter, and as of late, the girls are backing up his claim.

Another early start for the Kimball gals as they led 13-5 after the first quarter, and Stull already had 2 of her treys. By half time, the Lady Horns were up 31-14 and Stull and Austyn Pedersen both had 3 treys already. Miss Stull ended up with 18 points hitting on 6 of her 8 shots taken on the night, all from behind the arc. She also had 5 rebounds, 2 steals and 2 assists for a memorable evening. Pedersen hit on 3 of 6 three point tries and was 2/3 at the line for 11 points. Reader hit double figures with 10 points, had 4 rebounds, 4 steals, 1 assist and 2 blocked shots. Dickerson had 7 points with 1 trey along with 2 rebounds, 2 steals, 2 assists. Klinkhammer was the fourth player to chart a trey and had 5 points, 5 steals, 3 rebounds, and 2 assists. Lockwood had 2 points, 5 rebounds, 3 steals and 1 assist. McCloud, Hager, and Shelby Vogel all had 2 points each along with their other stats.

The local chapter of the Farm Bureau had offered to donate $5 for each three point field goal made, and the Kimball ladies cost them, with their 11/25 shooting from beyond the arc. Kimball was also 6/13 at the line, and 10/32 on two point field goals, had 25 rebounds, 20 steals, 11 assists, and 2 blocks, 17 turnovers and 15 fouls.

Sutherland came into the game with a 15-5 record and were a worthy opponent. The Lady Sailors were 6/11 at the line, had 14 fouls, were 15/39 from the field going 3/9 on three pointers, and had 21 rebounds. Jalyne Schuster was high with 10 points, Makayla Hecht had 8, Katelynn Stewart 6, Sam Staggs 6, Joli Hopping 4, Christina Tilford 2, Haley Baxter 2, and Hannah Fleecs 1.

Coach Smith was all smiles following the play of his girls from the past weekend.

“We are playing some of our best basketball yet right now. I am proud of these girls for the way they come out with great effort each game. We have played good defense all year, but our offense has really picked up as of late. We beat a couple of good basketball teams this past weekend and I think we are ready to give a good effort at sub-districts” Smith said. Kimball was to face Chadron in first round play of the C-l sub-district at Alliance this past Tuesday.

Kimball  13 18 13 15-59

Sutherland 5 9 15 10-39

The Kimball Junior Varsity girls also won out over the weekend finishing with a record of 11-3 indicating girl’s basketball should be strong next year despite losing the 7 seniors to graduation.

Kimball ran past Hemingford 43-13 with Taylor Wismer high with 13 hitting 3 treys, Shelby Vogel had 8, Annie McCloud 6 along with 7 steals, Laura Flores 5 with 1 trey, Jamie Hansel 5, Kelly Green 4, and Amber Kilgore 2. Top rebounders were Kilgore with 3 boards, 5 steals and 1 block, Tabitha Unzicker and Kelly Green with 6 rebounds each.

Kimball won over Sutherland 40-23 with Vogel high with 9 points and 9 rebounds, Jordain Gawith 8 with 2 treys, Wismer with 1 trey, Brooke Hager 7, McCloud 7 with 9 rebounds, and Hansel l.