Season ends for Bison girls

KEARNEY -- The free throw line made the big difference in the outcome of McCook's matchup with Holdrege in the semifinals of the Nebraska Class B-5 district girls basketball tournament Thursday night at the University of Nebraska-Kearney Health and Sports Center.

Holdrege made 21-of-34 foul shots compared to 7-of-12 for McCook and handed the Bison a 56-46 loss.

Holdrege (13-8) will play Lexington (8-13) in the district finals at 7 p.m. Friday. Lexington defeated Grand Island Northwest 54-45 in double overtime in Thursday's other semifinal.

McCook finished the season with a 9-16 record and GINW posted a 7-13 mark.

Four McCook seniors played their final game in a Bison uniform, including four-year starter Jillian Bryant. The other seniors are Allison Smith, Andrea Soden and Kayla Wilson.

Bryant, a 5-foot-11 forward, scored 16 points and fell 2 points shy of the 1,000 mark for her career. Her 998 points makes her the school's all-time leading girls scorer.

Bryant added 5 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 blocked shot and 1 steal. Smith contributed 13 points, 3 rebounds and 1 blocked shot.

Soden had 4 points, 5 rebounds, 1 blocked shot and 1 steal. Wilson had 2 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists and 1 blocked shot.

Jessica Harris hit a 3-pointer for 3 points, had 3 assists, 1 rebound and 1 blocked shot.

Austin Wilson and Taryn Placzek each scored 3 points and Lindsey McNutt 2.

Wilson and McNutt each had 2 rebounds. Wilson had 2 rebounds.

Jena Isaacson and Juliann Robinson both scored 16 points and grabbed 5 rebounds for the Dusters.

Breanna Isaacson added 9 points and 4 boards. Robinson had 4 steals.

McCook led 9-8 after one quarter, but Holdrege took a 22-20 halftime lead and led 36-31 after three quarters. The Dusters outscored the Bison 20-15 in the fourth quarter.

The score was tied seven times and there were five lead changes.

"We did not finish the season where we wanted to but the girls gave a great effort," said McCook girls basketball coach Barry Schaeffer. "We just did not the little things we needed to well enough to win the game. We say goodbye to some pretty good seniors.

"Jillian fell two points short of 1,000 points for her career, but she broke a record that has stood for a long time. She also leaves with the career rebounding record."

"Allison in her two year career here in McCook has also left her mark. She will finish sixth in scoring with 600 points and 10th in rebounding with 324.

"Kayla finished a solid career with 160 career points and 153 career rebounds, both of these would have been more had she not had an injury-shortened junior year. Kayla did a lot of the little things well, and was our blue collar player all year.

"Andrea finishes with 92 career points, she made a lot of improvements over the past year. She helped us be a better defensive team, and became a better shooter. We will miss all of these players next season.

"I want to thank the girls for a great year and my assistants Robin Henrichs and Lynne Kinne for all their help. Thanks also to the fans for their support all year."

In Lexington's win over GINW, Lexington's Hannah Mandelko scored 30 point, grabbed 14 rebounds and had 3 steals. Terah Maloley and Caitlyn Luther each scored 8 points.

Julie Stoltenberg led the Vikings with 11 points and 7 rebounds. Lyndi Rouzee and Andrea May each scored 7 points, with May grabbing 7 boards and dishing off 3 assists.

Lexington outscored GINW 10-1 in the second overtime. The teams were tied 40-40 at the end of regulation and 44-44 after one overtime.

Holdrege 8 14 14 20 -- 56

McCook 9 11 11 15 -- 46

McCook: Harris 3, Soden 4, Jillian Bryant 16, Allison Smith 13, K.Wilson 2, A.Wilson 3, Placzek 3, McNutt 2.

Holdrege: B.Isaacson 9, Jena Isaacson 16, Juliann Robinson 16, Fuerst 4, Daily 4, Smith 2, Clayton 5.