North Platte, NE – The Lady Bulldogs improved to 6-6 on the season and the boys team dropped to 2-10 after Grand Island came to town a day early to avoid weather. The Islanders were slated to play the Bulldogs on Friday the 18th but the threat of freezing rain and slick roads prompted both teams to play a night earlier on the 17th.
The Grand Island girls came out with intensity as they were looking for their first win on the season, things started hard for the Lady Bulldogs as Grand Island started the game making shots from all over the court and playing good defense. The Dawgs would finish the first quarter behind GISH 13-8. During the break Coach Hammond seen emphasizes a few points and telling his team to take care of the ball.
From there it would be all Bulldogs, they would take the first lead of the game 14-13 with 5:08 remaining off of a Gracie Haneborg free throw. The Dawgs would outscore GISH 14-4 in the 2nd and hold a 22-17 point lead at halftime.
The second half for the Dawgs was impressive as they came out playing full-court press and started to get into the heads of the Grand Island girls. Both the Haneborg girls would have and an impressive quarter as Gracie put in 5 points, Callie would add 4 and the Dawgs would increase their lead to 10 after three quarters of play, 34-24.
The Fourth quarter was all about holding the lead for the Bulldogs. Grand Island went to a system early in the 4th where they started to foul the Bulldogs in an attempt to stop the clock and get possessions back. The downfall of that strategy was Abbie Hedgecock who went 8/8 from the free throw line in the quarter (12/13 for the game) and put things out of reach for GISH.
North Platte came away with the win 44-30, Abbie Hedgecock lead the way with 14 points and 12 rebounds for the Dawgs. The Bulldogs next welcome in Fremont on Saturday the 19th.
The Bulldog Boys would come up next taking on a GISH (4-9) that struggled against a Class A schedule themselves. Like the girls game previous Grand Island would jump out to an early 9-4 lead taking the Bulldogs by surprise. Coach Kaminski would let the guys play through the opening salvo by GISH and would tie things up with a Max Hays 3pt shot with five minutes left in the first. The Bulldogs would clamp down on defense for the rest of the quarter and would push their lead to 16-11 on another Max Hays 3pt shot, he would end the quarter with 9. The Dawgs would have the 16-14 lead after one-quarter of play.
The second quarter saw teams trade baskets for the first 5 1/2 minutes. The score stood at 22-20 in favor of the Dawgs when GISH took a timeout with 4:25 left. Coming out of the time out each team found a groove on offense and would end the 2nd with the same two-point North Platte lead, 30-28. Jack Mohr for the Dawgs was in double digits with 11 points at the half.
Third Quarter the Dawgs would come out guns blazing. They would push their lead to six points with 3:35 left in the third and then a big Kiya Kramer three-pointer would make it a nine-point lead with 3:15 to go. GISH would take time out to try to compose themselves and it looked like the momentum was all Bulldogs. The timeout, however, proved to be all the Islanders would need, they would rattle off a 10-0 run to end the third quarter and North Platte would hold on to a one-point lead 42-41.
That would set up a close fourth quarter. The teams would trade the lead a few times over the first couple of minutes but GISH had the momentum going from the run that ended the third. They were on an extended 18-2 run that started back in the third when Coach Kaminski called a time out with 4:32 left in the game. The Bulldogs couldn’t find their footing on defense at the end of the game behind a flurry of offense from GISH standout Much Biel (34 points, 7 reb) and they would fall to the Islanders 54-47.
Boys will play in the nightcap on Saturday night against Fremont that will follow the girls game.
Tip off of the girls game will be 5pm.