Lady Trojans fall to Crofton; top West Holt
HARTINGTON — It was a busy week for the Cedar Catholic High School girls basketball team after three games in a four-day stretch.
After two tough defeats, the final contest ended in positive fashion after a Friday win against West Holt, 52-27. That followed two games that finished in a 42-34 loss to Norfolk Catholic and 66-24 to powerhouse Crofton.
The Lady Trojans (1-3) headed to Dakota Valley Tuesday night to wrap up play before Christmas.
“The Norfolk Catholic game was a hard-fought battle that we had chances to win, but just couldn’t get over the hump,” CCHS head coach Craig Wortmann said. “With Crofton, we had a slow start, and we couldn’t get going. We are still working on our team dynamic, and when we play these two teams it will not work out for us.
“For the West Holt game, we were able to pass the ball as a team much better. We worked on execution more in our practices this week and it paid off. The girls are still finding their way in the early season.”
Against Norfolk Catholic, the Lady Trojans were led by Brynn Wortmann (12 points) and Brooklyn Kuehn (nine points, seven rebounds, four steals), while ing the contest against Crofton, Kuehn led the Lady Trojans in scoring with eight points.
Laney Kathol scored 12 points and grabbed 13 rebounds in the West Holt win, while Megan Heimes and Brynn Wortmann each poured in 11 points apiece.
Coach Wortmann was hoping to see his girls continue to trend in the right direction.
“We will need to play team defense and offense,” he said. “We are learning how we will score and win as a team. If we can find more offense from our defense it will help us push the tempo and get into more comfortable situations to play well.
“We passed and played full court defense much better against West Holt. Our ball pressure is increasing, so this will help us create offense and stop opponents from scoring.”
Kuehn noted the loss of Makenna Noecker, who is out for the season with a knee injury, and the need of some newer girls to step up, as a cause for the ups and downs.
“We are playing bigger schools than us, too, and we are competing and keeping up with them,” Kuehn said. “It’s just about the full execution. Makenna was a scorer, and a lot of points would come from her. The girls that have been stepping up excel in places that are not necessarily shooting and haven’t played that role, yet.”
Kuehn said the players are attacking the rim more with the idea of getting to the rim or drawing fouls to shoot free throws. The Lady Trojans are also looking to get the ball inside more to the post.
Add all of that with having a team who had its senior class sit out two weeks due to a COVID-19 quarantine, and Cedar Catholic is looking at getting back into the rhythm.
“We are doing pretty well and being the best we can be,” Kuehn said. “We are making progress each game and improving in the areas we need to be working on.
“We just look ahead to who we are playing and what their strong suits are and focus on those area in practice, game-by-game to see where we need to execute more than in other places.”
SCORING
Cedar - Brooklyn Kuehn, 8; Brynn Wortmann, 7; Jordyn Steffen, 6; Laney Kathol, 2; Elly Becker, 1.
REBOUNDS - Cedar - Laney Kathol, 4; Brooklyn Kuehn, 3; Brynn Wortmann, 1; Jordyn Steffen, 1; Megan Heimes, 1.
ASSISTS - Cedar - Brooklyn Kuehn, 2; Megan Heimes, 1; Brynn Wortmann, 1; Laney Kathol, 1; Jordyn Steffen, 1.
STEALS - Cedar - Brynn Wortmann, 4; Brooklyn Kuehn, 2; Jordyn Steffen, 1.
SCORING
Cedar - Laney Kathol, 12; Megan Heimes, 11; Brynn Wortmann, 11; Jordyn Steffen, 8; Brooklyn Kuehn, 6; Elly Becker, 3; Makenzie Arens, 1.
REBOUNDS - Cedar - Laney Kathol, 13; Brooklyn Kuehn, 4; Brynn Wortmann, 3; Jordyn Steffen, 2; Megan Heimes, 2; Elly Becker, 1; Gracie Dickes,1; Grace Wortmann, 1.
ASSISTS - Cedar - Brynn Wortmann, 4; Megan Heimes, 3; Jordyn Steffen, 3; Laney Kathol, 2; Brooklyn Kuehn, 2.
STEALS - Cedar - Brynn Wortmann, 2; Brooklyn Kuehn, 1; Megan Heimes, 1.
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