LINCOLN – Playing their fourth consecutive game in as many days, the Kearney girls basketball team fought hard with a third quarter rally, eventually falling short in the fourth quarter as they dropped the Heartland Athletic Conference Tournament third place game to top-seeded Lincoln Pius X on Saturday afternoon at Lincoln North Star High School. Click here to listen to the broadcast replay.
Kearney entered the contest as the #6 seed, having downed #11 Fremont on Wednesday at Kearney High School, then traveled to #3 Lincoln Southwest to upset the Silverhawks in the second round, and finally dropping the HAC Semifinal to #2 Lincoln High the night prior in a tight contest.
Lincoln Pius X had a much easier start to the tournament, having been placed as the top overall seed. The Thunderbolts entered as the #1 seed after an unbeaten start and continued that run with a dominating over Columbus in their Thursday matchup. In Friday’s semifinal, Pius fell behind late and couldn’t contain #5 Lincoln Northeast as the Rockets earned their 54-50 win. The loss dropped Pius to the third place game on New Year’s Eve.
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As the game tipped at Lincoln North Star High School, Pius came out firing quickly as Adison Markowski launched a three pointer to connect and take the early lead. The Bearcats would answer with scores of their own, including Tatum Rusher adding a lay-in. Kearney punched back for a brief lead up 8-5 after a Rusher three pointer, but the Thunderbolts would continue their run and led 11-8 at the end of the first.
KHS GBB
Pius X had four different players score in the second quarter while Kearney struggled to keep pace as the pressure of four straight days of contests wore on the team. Pius outpaced Kearney 14-4 as the Bearcats did have a three-pointer from Maddy Province connect, but a deep three from Pius’ Knobbe ended the first half with Pius leading 25-12.
KHS GBB
Kearney opened up the third quarter with fresh legs, finding creative defensive opportunities to transition to scores as the Bearcats outscored Pius 15-6. Kennidy Garner earned trips to the free throw line to knock in two of her four points in the quarter, while Kiara Dutenhoffer contributed with surges off a three-point play and two more free throws. Despite the dominant quarter, Kearney trailed 31-27 entering the final quarter but kept confident in their chances.
KHS GBB
Unfortunately for Kearney, Pius awoke to undo the damage as the Thunderbolts laid in several quick scores late in the final minutes to push the game out of reach. Kearney could not maintain their pace, and ultimately fell to 6-4 on the year with a 44-33 loss to the top-seeded Pius Thunderbolts.
Kearney ends their HAC Tournament run with a chance to rest and recover before taking on a busy week at Kearney High School next week, facing North Platte Tuesday, Grand Island on Thursday, and at home on Saturday in the nightcap contest against Elkhorn North in the Girls Basketball showcase tournament.
The Bearcats had contributions from Rusher with 8 points, Dutenhoffer ended with 7, Avery Franzen had 5, Garner finished with 4, Harley Straka and Addie Snyder each had 2, and Haidyn Skeen and Kelsey Hatcher wrapped with 1.
