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McCook girls looking good into holiday break at 6-2
McCOOK, Neb. — McCook High’s girls turned into a holiday grinch against the green-clad Kearney Catholic Stars Friday evening.
The Bison basically said “no cookies for you” with shutout defense through all four overtime minutes of a 45-37 home-court victory.
Senior Paige Bortner played a brilliant role of stealing any pre-Christmas joy for K.C. on this evening.
“Paige did that all game. She was all over the court and really hitting the boards for rebounds,” coach Amy Scheil confirmed.
It was Paige’s first overtime steal that led to her two tie-breaking free throws.
The 5’9” Hastings College track recruit promptly made another Grinchy move, taking that ball and finding senior Brooklynn Gillen for two more points.
Bortner later added a free throw and — for one final top-of-the-tree star moment — she nailed the clinching three-pointer to cap McCook’s 8-0 finish.
The Bison improved to 6-1 against an always formidable Kearney Catholic opponent.
“I was proud of how they didn’t get down or hang their heads. They just kept working,” Scheil said.
Gillen, senior Malia Hilker, junior Jaylea Walgren and sophomore Cali Crawford along with Gillen sparked what was a strong 17-point Bison first quarter.
However, Kearney Catholic matched every shot to stay even at 17-17 through one period.
The game quickly turned into something which went far beyond an old holiday saying “let’s keep in touch.”
“They were fouling a lot and it wasn’t getting called,” Scheil observed about the K.C. Stars. “We finally decided at halftime that we would do the same thing. We didn’t really want to foul, but we did a lot and it didn’t get called.”
The teams traded slaps, shoves, dives and not-so-friendly hugs until Hilker’s backdoor layup gave McCook a 32-30 lead after three quarters.
Crawford partially blocked a Star shot just ast this period buzzer sounded.
Yet they only netted five more points and a potential final game-winning shot wasn’t all that close ...
Leaving these teams tied at 37-37 and setting up McCook’s Paige-inspired heroics.
“It’s a good win against an always tough team to play,” Scheil concluded.
Editor’s note: Unfortunately, neither scoring nor any other official McCook stat leaders were obtained for today’s Gazette. They will hopefull be included later this week.
McCook’s momentum did not quite carry into Saturday for a road trip to another tough Holdrege Dusters opponent.
The Bison fell behind double digits and bravely rallied to tie Holdrege on Walgren’s three-pointer.
She unofficially led McCook with 13 points.
The Dusters sadly regained momentum which propelled them to a 51-43 triumph.
McCook (6-2 record) finished a busy five games-in-eight-days stretch. They won’t play again until Jan. 2 at the Lousiville Tournament against Ralston.
The Rams and Bison collide at 1:45 p.m.
David City and host Louisville play the other semifinal. The title game is Friday, Jan. 3.