Cedar girls earn a pair of wins over state-rated teams

HARTINGTON — The Cedar Catholic Lady Trojans welcomed Pierce to the Monsignor Werner Activities Center Jan. 13 and the two teams arrived with identical 11-2 records.

The Lady Trojans left the contest 12-2 with a hardfought 41-33 defensive battle over the Lady Bluejays who departed 11-3.

Cedar Catholic held Pierce to a frigid 21% shooting night including just 2-for-15 from beyond the 3-point line.

The Lady Trojans jumped out to a 11-5 lead in the first quarter and extended the advantage to double digits by the intermission.

The teams played evenly through the third before Cedar Catholic held on for the win.

Makenna Noecker paced the Cedar Catholic offense with 16 points. Katy Jones and Laney Kathol added a dozen each and Katelyn Arens chipped in a free throw.

Kathol swept the glass for 11 rebounds and had three blocks before fouling out.

Samantha Pick had three steals. The Lady Trojans will hit the road Jan. 20 when they return to Wayne to take on the Lady Blue Devils in another Mid-State Conference contest before another conference tilt on the road the next day in West Point to take on Guardian Angels Central Catholic.

Pierce 5 5 10 13 - 33 Cedar 11 9 10 11 - 41

SCORING

Cedar - Makenna Noecker, 16; Laney Kathol, 12; Katy Jones, 12; Katelyn Arens, 1.

REBOUNDS

Cedar - Laney Kathol, 11; Katy Jones, 4; Addison Walters, 4; Samantha Pick, 3; Makenna Noecker, 2; Melayna McGregor, 1; Bailey Hochstein, 1; Lauren Bernecker, 1.

ASSISTS

Cedar - Laney Kathol, 2; Addison Walters, 1; Lauren Bernecker, 1.

STEALS

Cedar - Samantha Pick, 3; Makenna Noecker, 2; Katy Jones, 1; Laney Kathol, 1; Bailey Hochstein, 1; Addison Walters, 1.

In the girls’ contest, the Lady Trojans led by five at the end of the first quarter and went up seven after Makenna Noecker, who finished with a game-high 21 points, scored on a drive in the paint.

The Lady Blue Devils would score the next seven points to even the score at 14-14.

In the third, Samantha Pick heated up for the Lady Trojans to get her team in front by nine at 29-20.

“I got open a couple of times and my teammates got me the ball,” Pick said. “I just had to make the shots.”

She hit a three with 3:48 left in the quarter then hit a couple of charity tosses after Laney Kathol converted a traditional three-point play and the Lady Trojans never trailed again.

“This was a good game for us,” Cedar Catholic coach, Craig Wortmann said. “We’re glad to get out of here with a win and our defense is what got us through the game - we figure we have a good chance to win if we hold our opponents under 40 points.”

And that’s exactly what his team did. The Lady Trojans went up 31-22 after the third quarter and the team played even through the final eight minutes to set the 44-35 final score.

For the Lady Trojans, Kathol trailed Noecker with 11 points, Pick was next with eight, Lauren Bernecker scored three and Katy Jones had a free throw.

Amber Lawson paced the Lady Blue Devils with 13 points, Kinslee Heimes and Kayla Pinkelman each added six and Allison Wieseler chipped in five.

“We’ll definitely learn from this and it will help us get better down the road,” Wieseler said. “There’s a lot