KEARNEY – A choppy contest to start the new year still earned JD Carson’s Bearcats their seventh win on the season with the 44-24 victory over North Platte to begin a stretch of rivalry contests Wednesday night. Click here to listen to the broadcast replay.
The Bearcats entered the evening at 6-4 having come off their most competitive stretch of competition yet, facing four straight opponents in the Heartland Athletic Conference Tournament in four consecutive days. North Platte entered on their worst start to a season under fifth year head coach Tyson Hammond at 1-7, having lost different players to injuries throughout the first stretch of the season.
The Bearcats played to their strengths early in the mistake-ridden contest, leading 5-0 in the opening five minutes of the contest as Tatum Rusher scored a triple along with Kennidy Garner adding in a lay-in. The Bearcats would control the first with two more scores – one from Kiara Dutenhoffer off the bench along with Maddy Province finding early success – as the only points from the Bulldogs came from a Macie Freeze three pointer. Kearney would lead entering the second up 9-3.
The second quarter showed much of the same, but Kearney would be able to find more outlets for scoring as five different Bearcats contributed in the quarter. Rusher found another score, Garner connected on a three pointer, Harley Straka found an alley to lay-in a bucket, Province added three points, and Addy Helmbrecht knocked down a free throw as Kearney controlled the second 11-6 and led 20-9 at halftime.
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The third quarter allowed Kearney to pull away as Province rolled in another score and Avery Franzen was efficient and lethal adding in eight points on her own. The Bearcats also stifled a short run by the Bulldogs, with Emily Hansen bringing five points and Jaden Ouderkirk knocking down a three-pointer. Kearney continued their lead up 36-19 entering the fourth quarter.
The sloppy contest was filled with turnovers and empty possessions, but Kearney prevailed late by stifling any offensive momentum from North Platte as the Bearcat defense held them to only five points, stalling out any late hopes with Kearney earning their 44-24 victory at home.
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The Bearcats improved to 7-4 on the season and take their winnings into Thursday night’s contest with local rival Grand Island. Pregame coverage of the contest begins at 5:45 PM with tip-off from Kearney High School set for 6 PM. Tune in to the contest on KGFW with Austin Jacobsen on the call.
The Bearcats had contributions from Province with 10 points, Franzen ended with 8, Rusher and Garner each had 7, Straka ended with 3, Haidyn Skeen and Addie Snyder wrapped with 2 each, and Addy Helmbrecht concluded with 1.
