Lady Cats earn a split with L&C Conference foes

HARTINGTON — The Hartington-Newcastle girls’ basketball team opened the new season against a familiar opponent when Ponca came to town Thursday.

The Lady Cats turned away the Lady Indians for the first time since the 2017-18 season with the 38-35 season-opening win.

On Saturday, Wakefield came to town and tripped up the Lady Wildcats, 41-30.

In Thursday’s opener with the Lady Indians, HNS had a narrow, one-bucket lead at the end of the first frame, but Ponca nibbled that to within one, 18-17, at the intermission.

Ponca pulled ahead at the start of the third quarter and then clung to a narrow lead throughout the frame, leading 26-23 when the quarter ended A Maddie Steffen jumper pulled the Lady Cats to within one point, 25-26, to open the final frame. A pair of Olivia Grutsch foul shots put HNS back in the lead. 27-26. The two teams then traded baskets until the midway point of the final frame when Mani Lange collected a steal and went coast-to-coast for a layin to put the Cats up by six points — 34-28. At the two-minute mark McKenzie Bruning hit a mid-range jumper to give HNS an eight-point lead, 36-28. The Cats then withstood a Ponca rally to earn the win.

“I thought overall, the game looked like the first game of the season for both sides,” Coach Rolfes said. “Both teams had some moments of really good basketball and some sloppy moments of basketball.”

The Lady Indians took over the lead in the third quarter and Hartington-Newcastle found itself trailing, 26-23 heading in to the final period.

The Lady Indians heated up a little from the floor and held on for the win by outscoring Ponca 15-9 in the final eight minutes.

McKenzie Bruning led the way offensively for Hartington-Newcastle with a dozen points on the night. Lange added seven and Maddie Steffen, Grutsch and Gratzfeld each tacked on six.

“Maddie Steffen played a really solid game for her first varsity start of her career,” Rolfes said. “She had a tremendous summer and I am excited for her to gain confidence on the court. McKenzie led us in scoring and had a really nice game, Mani, Zoey and Olivia all chipped in some points and played great defensively.”

Grutsch pulled down 10 boards while Steffen had eight. Lange handed out three assists.

“I thought we handled the adversity of some of our own mistakes well and never panicked,” the coach said. “We got back in the game after a couple of Ponca scoring runs.”

Cold shooting hurt the Purple Pride on Saturday.

“Against Wakefield, we struggled to ever find a rhythm in the game,” Hartington-Newcastle coach Grant Rolfes said. “We felt stuck offensively and didn’t shoot the ball well or finish around the rim like we’d like to.”

The Lady Trojans returned Jordan Metzler, an All-State and All-Conference performer, but the Lady Wildcats had a plan for her.

“I thought defensively we did a good job on her for the most part,” Rolfes said. “Mani (Lange) covered her most of the time and we held her down pretty good, we just had trouble scoring.”

Metzler would finish with 15 points on the night.

“She hit some important shots,” the coach said. “But she is going to get some of those every night. We did a good job keeping her from running away from us.”

The cold-shooting Lady Wildcats managed just two points in the second quarter.

The Lady Trojans took a 9-6 advantage at the end of the first eight minutes and extended the advantage to 17-8 by the halftime break.

Wakefield added six points to their lead in the third frame before the Lady Wildcats came back a little in the final stanza, outscoring the Lady Trojans 14-10 to get to the 41-30 final.

Olivia Grutsch and McKenzie Bruning paced the Hartington-Newcastle offense with 10 points each, Zoey Gratzfeld added six.

Grutsch and Gratzfeld grabbed six rebounds apiece, Lauren Howell had five.

The Lady Wildcats were set to hit the road for their first road contest of the season on Dec. 5 when they were to travel to Humphrey to take on perennial D2 powerhouse, the St. Francis Lady Flyers.

Another tough home date follows when Pierce comes to town on Dec. 9 before Hartington-Newcastle goes back on the road to take on Tri County Northeast on Dec. 12.

Wakefield 9 8 14 10 — 41 Hartington-Newcastle 6 2 8 14 — 30 P=Points, R=Rebounds, A=Assists, St=Steals, B=Blocks. HARTINGTON-NEWCASTLE: Mani Lange 1-6 0-4 2P, 2S; Lauren Howell 1-3 0-3 2P, 5R, 1A, 1S; Olivia Grutsch 5-9 0-0 10P, 6R, 1A, 1S; Zoey Gratzfeld 3-15 0-2 6P, 6R, 1A, 3S, 2B; McKenzie Bruning 4-14 2-4 10P, 3R, 2A, 1S; Karli Bruning 0-1 0-0 0P. Ponca 9 8 9 9 — 35 Hartington-Newcastle 11 7 5 15 — 38 HARTINGTON-NEWCASTLE: Lange 3-7 1-2 7P, 2R, 3A, 3S; Howell 0-4 1-3 1P, 5R, 2A, 1B; Grutsch 2-6 2-2 6P, 10R, 2A, 5S; Gratzfeld 3-4 0-0 6P, 5R, 1S; M. Bruning 5-15 2-6 12P, 4R; Maddie Steffen 2-8 2-4 6P, 8R, 2S, 1B; K. Bruning 3R.