Harley Straka, KHS Girls Basketball v. Lincoln East 2024 // Mitchell Brandt
KEARNEY – Scoring runs by Lincoln East were handled, and Kearney was able to follow their same principles of team first basketball – while also following the lead of several sharpshooters – to push past the Spartans 61-39 at Kearney High School Tuesday night. Click here to listen to the broadcast replay.
The Bearcats and Spartans were first scheduled to hold the Heartland Athletic Conference tilt on Friday, Jan. 12, but the impending snow storm pushed back the contest to Tuesday night. The extra rest did not create rust, however, for the Kearney girls.
The Bearcats were out firing early as Lincoln East had little control in handling the first points of the contest. Kearney’s Kennidy Garner and Paige Mailan hit their respective three pointers to open the contest, while four other Bearcats – Harley Straka, Libby Province, Addie Helmbrecht, and Avery Franzen – each found two points a piece. While the Kearney offense was humming along early, the Bearcat defense prevented easy looks. East’s Keatyn Musiel did find some success with her own triple to answer Mailahn’s while adding in two free throws. It was a 14-7 Kearney lead heading into the second quarter.
Addie Helmbrecht, KHS Girls Basketball v. Lincoln East 2024 // Mitchell Brandt
The home team again took control in the first two minutes of the second quarter as Mailahn and Garner traded shots – Paige had the first three-pointers of the period extending the lead 22-7. Harley Straka added in four more points as well, with Garner calmly breaking down the Spartan defense with jumpers on the block, elbow, and downtown. She contributed another ten points to her running total in the quarter.
Lincoln East would rally to keep pace with the Bearcats, scoring seventeen in the quarter in total. Six different Spartans would tally scores, including Madison Adams closing out an and-one and adding in another pair of free throws. Brookelyn Rasmussen hit a three pointer in the period, but Kearney kept their control leading 34-24 into halftime.
The third quarter did get dicey for the Bearcats, as Lincoln East cut the deficit to only six points in the mid-third period. However Kearney once again leaned on their balanced looks to find six different contributors including Mailahn’s fourth three-pointer. Nudging past East with a 12-11 advantage, Kearney felt comfortable up 46-35 heading to the final quarter.
Harley Straka, KHS Girls Basketball v. Lincoln East 2024 // Mitchell Brandt
The Bearcats stopped the Spartans cold turkey in the final frame, only allowing one field goal in the opening seven and a half minutes of the fourth period. Meanwhile, Garner took matters into her own hands to push the lead to sixteen after knocking down five points in the first ninety seconds of the fourth. With her last scoring output, Garner crossed off a new career high with eighteen points – her second consecutive game breaking her previous best. Libby Province had her first three pointer of the season, and Kearney eased out the remainder of the game with the 61-39 win over the conference foe.
Kearney improved to 7-5 on the season and will head to Norfolk on Friday night for a road test at the Panthers. KGFW will have the broadcast with pregame set to begin at 5:45 PM and tip-off anticipated for 6 PM.
Lincoln East fell to 4-6 on the year and hosts winless Grand Island on Thursday night.
Kennidy Garner, KHS Girls Basketball v. Lincoln East 2024 // Mitchell Brandt
UNOFFICIAL KGFW SCORING TOTALS:
KEARNEY: Garner (18 points), Mailahn (12), Straka (10), Province (10), Helmbrecht (4), Franzen (3), Addie Snyder (2), Sophie Glandt (2)
LINCOLN EAST: Musiel (10 points), Rasmussen (10), Adams (7), Emma Gottberg (3), Sadie McCleary (2), Taelyn Hanus (2), Nevaeh Coleman (2), Regan Barnard (1)
