McCook teams open season with sweep

IMPERIAL -- The McCook High School boys and girls varsity and junior varsity basketball teams all posted wins Thursday night against Chase County.

The McCook varsity boys won 69-40, the JV boys won 62-40, the varsity girls won 54-29 and the JV girls won 52-28.

The games were played at Imperial.

The McCook boys will host Hastings tonight, with the JV game starting at 6 p.m., followed by the varsity contest at 7:45 p.m.

The McCook JV and varsity girls play at Grand Island Northwest Saturday. Game times are 3:15 p.m. and 5 p.m.

Chase County hosts Goodland tonight, starting at 5:30 p.m. MST.

McCook senior Paul Putz lit up the Chase County boys for 29 points -- 19 in the second half. He poured in 10 2-pointers and three 3-pointers.

Willie Williams added 13 points for the Bison, Derick Lorentz 11 and Trent Lyons 10. Brendan Liess fired in 5 and Bobby Gaulke 1.

Tony Purvis, Brian Winder, Kyle Bedore, Jeremy Young, Derek Ruppert, Zack Volquardsen and Jordan Bass played but did not score.

Will Morales paced Chase County with 13 points. Nathan Wenzlick and Trey Boggs each scored 12 points.

Aaron Fuehrer chipped in with 7 and Scott Leibbrandt 2.

"This was a decent effort defensively," said Steve Nicholson, who along with Ron Coleman made his co-coaching debut for McCook. "We still have a lot to improve upon.

"We were pleased with our our rebounding stats. We outrebounded CCHS 25-20 and more importantly only gave more than six offensive rebound -- not bad for the first outing."

Putz led the Bison with 9 rebounds. Lyons and Young each grabbed 4.

"Offensively, we limited our turnovers to 12 and that helped too," Nicholson said.

McCook: Willie Williams 13, Trent Lyons 10, Liess 5, Gaulke 1, Paul Putz 29, Derick Lorentz 11.

Chase County: Liebbrandt 2, Fuehrer 7, Trey Boggs 12, Nathan Wenzlick 12, Will Morales 13.

McCook

girls 54,

Chase Co. 29

The McCook Bison varsity girls jumped out to 30-11 halftime lead en route to their first game of the season.

Lindsay Dame paced the Bison effort with 12 points, including two 3-pointers out of five tries.

Jillian Bryant added 11 points. She was 5-of-8 from the floor.

Kassi Cunningham and Lisa Friehe each scored 7 points.

Maggie Jones scored 6, Amanda Bennett 5, Michelle Gaunt 4 and Sunee Haney 2.

Kim Serbousek, Natalie Brooks, Katherine Morell and Kayla Wilson played but did not score.

Samantha Pinkal led the Longhorns with 10 points. Becky Way scored 8, Breanna Bjerrum 5, Nicole Longan 4 and Michelle Dill 2.

"For the first game out, we played well," said McCook girls basketball coach Bill Beckenhauer.

"There are things we can do better. In the second quarter when we started pressing, that put the game away. Then our shooters caught fire."

Jones pulled down 13 rebounds, but the Bison were outboarded 32-29.

Dame had 5 steals and Bennett 4. Seven players had 3 steals each.

McCook: Jones 6, Haney 2, Lindsey Dame 12, Bennett 5, Gaunt 4, Cunningham 7, Jillian Bryant 11, Friehe 7.

Chase County: Longan 4, Bjerrum 5, Dill 2, Way 8, Samantha Pinkal 10.