Basketball Teams Split With Rawlins County
The Sagebrush Invitational Basketball Tournament got under way on Monday evening, December 5th. The St. Francis teams did not play until Tuesday, December 6, when they met the teams from Rawlins County High School in Brewster. The Indians boys defeated Rawlins County, but the Lady Indians lost to the Lady Buffs.
The Indians opened their scoring for the evening on a basket by Cade Bracelin off a nice pass by Isaac Schiltz. The Indians got off to a nice start, scoring several unanswered baskets and forcing a 5-second-count defensively. A trey by Isaac Schiltz gave the Indians a 9-2 advantage with about four minutes gone in the game. Rawlins County then made a run. A basket off the break cut the deficit to 12-11, but the Indians held on to lead by two (16-14) after one quarter of play.
Then it began to rain......threes, that is! Connecting on several consecutive treys, the Indians jumped out to a 27-19 lead. The Buffs cut in to the lead again just before halftime, but the Indians held a 33-28 lead at the break. The Indians made four treys in the quarter and six in the first half.
Rawlins County cut the lead to 33-30 early in the third, but then the Indians went on a small run to advance the score to 40-30 by the 4:49 mark. The Indians led 46-37 after three periods.
St. Francis jumped out to a 53-37 lead on a trey by Wyatt Landenberger which was followed by another trey by Isaac Schiltz (56-37). The Indians rolled to a 60-43 win over the Buffaloes.
St. Francis received a good balance in scoring from several players. Isaac Schiltz lead the Indian scoring with 19. Dylan Peter added 12 and Wyatt Landenberger 9. Mason Schiltz and Cade Bracelin each scored 7. The Indians connected on 9 of 13 free throws and made 9 threes in the contest.
The Rawlins County scoring was led by Damian Kogl with 13 points. Collin Clark and Joey Leitner each scored 8.
Coach Jeff Beims had the following comments after the game, "It was good to get our first win of the season against a good young Rawlins County team. What makes it particularly rewarding is the way in which we won. We won with defense. Rawlins County had a difficult time moving the ball against us, and I don’t remember very many uncontested shots that they took. We challenged everything they tried to accomplish offensively. The end result is they only scored 15 points in the second half and could only manage 6 in the fourth quarter."
"We did a really good job of controlling the ball in this game, committing only 11 turnovers while creating 10 steals defensively. That ratio alone will win us ball games if we can continue to play this way. Rawlins County is young, and they will only get better. We will see them again next week, and potentially in the league tournament in January. Although we won the first one, we can’t rest on our laurels, because I suspect this one left a bad taste in their mouth."
The Lady Indians lead early in the contest, but the Lady Buffs took the lead (6-8) with 3:33 expired in the contest and never relinquished it again. A lay-in by Hillary Chvatal at the 2:48 mark of the first period gave the Lady Buffs a six point lead (6-12). Nikki Hemel drained a three on the next Lady Buff possession and the deficit became 6-15. The Lady Indians trailed 7-22 at the end of the first period after an "old fashioned" three by Chavtal in the last few seconds of the period off the fast break.
Rawlins County's aggressive man-to man defense continued to cause problems for the Lady Indians. Clarice Neitzel scored at the 3:20 mark in the second period on a nice post move to bring the score to 10-34. St. Francis trailed at halftime 11-40.
The Lady Indians played with more spark in the third period and caused several turnovers with their full-court press. A stick-back basket by Kaitlin Figgins cut the deficit to 21-44. At the 3:09 mark, the Lady Indians were down 27-44. A steal by Figgins, who scored on a lay-in, cut the lead to 29-44. The third period ended with the Lady Indians still trailing 31-46. The Lady Indians were hustling hard and disrupting the Lady Buffs offense. The Lady Indians out-scored the Lady Buffs by 14 points in the period.
Rawlins County would answer. The Lady Buffs made two consecutive treys in the first minute of the fourth period, and soon had the advantage 55-33. With 2:44 left in the contest, the Lady Indians trailed 66-38. The Lady Indians lost to the Lady Buffs from Rawlins County 70-46.
Coach Susan Dinkel made the following comments about the game, "Well, we started out the game pretty passive. Defensively, we just allowed them to move the ball easily on us. After half, we came back out, got to business by putting some pressure on them, and had more success. We got several steals and converted them to points. If you were in the gym watching, you never would have guessed that the point differential was as much as it was. We just continued to fight and play hard...and truly, I couldn't be happier with that aspect of our game. I think the players now understand the level of intensity and aggressiveness that I want them to play. With any luck, they will continue to play that way. Even if we don't win, it sure is fun to play and watch a game like that!"
Kaitlin Figgins (15), Clarice Neitzel (12), Laura Brunk (7), and Aly Schlepp (6) led the Lady Indian scoring. The Lady Indians were 11 of 22 from the line.
The Lady Buffs' scoring was led by Hillary Chvatal with 23 points. Katie Withington added 21. Abbey Wolters scored 11 and Shelby Castens 10.
The teams will play Cheylin on Friday in Brewster. The games begin at 6:00 PM.
