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Bison teams sweep Longhorns
McCook boys
honor 'RC'
The McCook High School boys and girls basketball teams tipped off the 2004-05 season with a sweep over Chase County-Imperial Thursday night at the MHS gym.
The McCook boys handed the Longhorns a 48-41 loss, and the Bison girls used a 22-8 second quarter en route to a 48-34 win.
The McCook boys honored the late Ron Coleman by wearing wrist bands marked with the initials "RC" and there was a moment of silence before each varsity game.
Senior post players Zack Volquardsen and Jeremy Young paced the Bison varsity boys with 14 and 10 points respectively.
Tony Purvis added 6, Brendan Liess 5, Brandon Crick 5, Brian Winder 4 and Joel Arterburn 4.
Derek Ruppert and Garrett Rippen played extensive minutes and did not score.
McCook boys coach Steve Nicholson alternated two groups of five players in 3-4 minute intervals throughout the course of the game until the final six minutes.
Trey Boggs paced the Longhorns with 14 points. Joey Smith added 9, Phil Hayes 5, Matt May 3, Max Pribbeno 2 and Scott Way 2.
McCook made just 8-of-17 free throws and the Longhorns made 9-of-14.
McCook led 14-8 after the first quarter and extended the lead to 22-11 three minutes into the second quarter.
The Longhorns closed the gap to 23-22. Volquardsen hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to give the Bison a 26-22 halftime lead.
Chase County tied the scoreat 32-32 on a basket by Boggs. Volquardsen hit a baseline jumper to give the Bison a 34-32 advantage at the end of the third period.
The Longhorns took a 39-36 lead two minutes into the fourth quarter. McCook went on a 12-2 run to win the game.
"It was a game of runs back-and-forth," Nicholson said. "We didn't do some things well. You have to give credit to those guys (Chase County).
"In the third quarter, it was nip-and-tuck and they took the lead. We didn't make our free throws as well as we should have."
Nicholson said he used the substitution pattern to give his team and the fans a lift.
"We wanted to come out with a lot of energy," he said. "It's been a tough week. Fans needed to see a good basketball game."
The Bison will play a road game at Hastings at 7:45 p.m. Friday. Chase County plays at Goodland, Kan.
"They're going to be solid," Nicholson said of Hastings.
| Chase County | 8 | 14 | 10 | 9 | 41 |
| at McCook | 14 | 12 | 8 | 14 | 48 |
McCook: Liess 5, Purvis 6, Crick 5, Winder 4, Arterburn 4, Jeremy Young 10, Zack Volquardsen 14.
Chase County: Hayes 5, Gaswick 2, Pribbeno 2, Fuehrer 4, Trey Boggs 14, May 3, Smith 9, Way 2.
McCook
varsity girls 48,
Chase County 41
After falling behind 10-4 in the first quarter, the McCook girls turned up the defensive pressure on the Longhorns.
Jillian Bryant led the Bison with 14 points, followed by Andrea Soden 8, Allison Smith 7, Kayla Wilson 6, Natalie Brooks 5, Katherine Morell 2 and Kim Serbousek 1.
Lindsay McNutt and Kala Smalley played but did not score.
Bryant pulled down 9 rebounds, Serbousek 7, Wilson 5, Soden 5 and Smith 4.
For Chase County, Amanda Poppe had 7 points, 3 rebounds and 2 steals. Celeste Pankonin had 6 points and 7 rebounds.
Becky Way had 2 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals.
Jaci Liewer had 7 points and 5 rebounds. Whitney Paisley had 6 points, 8 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals.
Sarah Miller had 6 points and 6 rebounds. Tiffany Regier did not score, but grabbed 3 rebounds.
"A win's a win -- we'll take it," said Barry Schaeffer, who made a successful debut as McCook girls basketball coach.
"That second quarter gave us the momentum. Andrea Soden picked us up. It wasn't pretty at times, but it was a great effort.
"One of things we stressed is not give them extra shots. We made adjustments on the fly. I can't say enough about the team's effort."
Chase County girls basketball coach Marc Mroczek said his team played well for its first game.
"Obviously, there are some things that we need to work on offensively and defensively," he said.
"McCook's pressure man defense did disrupt what we wanted to do. The second quarter really hurt us as we got outscored 22-8.
"We need to do a better job defensively. We didn't attack the basket the way I wanted to and some of that was McCook's aggressiveness. We were playing some young girls that haven't started a varsity game before and I thought they played well.
Poppe, one of the Longhorns' top players, was involved in a collision with a teammate with 3:03 left in the third quarter and did not return.
"We didn't have senior Nicole Longan due to her having her appendix taken out and then Amanda Poppe got hurt in the third quarter when she went out with a concussion. She's our leader and I think we had an emotional letdown.
"The main thing is that we need to take the positives out of this game and continue to improve each week."
The Bison girls will host Grand Island Northwest at 5 p.m. Saturday at the MHS gymnasium.
"It's a situation where we need to step up our level of play," Schaeffer said.
Chase County plays at Goodland, Kan., Friday night.
| Chase County | 10 | 8 | 12 | 4 | 34 |
| at McCook | 4 | 22 | 11 | 11 | 48 |
McCook: Brooks 5, Wilson 6, Jillian Bryant 14, Serbousek 1, Soden 8, Morell 2, Rawlings 5, Smith 7.
Chase County: Poppe 7, Pankonin 6, Miller 6, Way 2, Liewer 7, Paisley 6.
McCook JV
boys 66,
Chase
County 58
The McCook Bison junior varsity boys pulled away from the Longhorns with a 20-10 fourth quarter.
Thirteen players scored for McCook, led by junior Joel Arterburn with 9 points.
Andy Lambing scored 8, Brett Burton 7, Brendan Liess 6, Tony Purvis 5, Darren Berry 5 and Brock Hubert 5.
Josh Cherry scored 4 points, Garrett Rippen 4, Joel Putz 3, John Swanhorst 3 and David Swisher 2. Darren Berry and Nate Berry played but did not score.
Darrin Schultz led the Longhorns with 16 points. Matt May scored 13, Robbie Bell 9, Chris Larson 6, Lance Milner 4, Scott Way 4, Rony Sieperda 1 and Scott Munger 1.
McCook JV
girls 40,
Chase
County 28
The McCook Bison JV girls jumped out to a 20-8 halftime lead and maintained their 12-point cushion.
Betsy Kohmestscher led the Bison with 9 points and Jessica Harris added 7.
Lindsey McNutt tallied 6, Rebecca Rawlings 5, Kala Smalley 4, Samantha Brown 3, Andrea Soden 2, Allison Smith 2 and Amy Beckenhauer 2.
Danelle Ruppert, Kayla Wilson, Taryn Placzek and Michelle Slater played but did not score.
Sarah Miller paced the Longhorns with 8 points. Tabitha Russell and Marissa Grow each scored 5, Lindsey Johnson 4, Ryann Spady 4, Lindsey Wilson 1 and Erica Pirog 1.
Tiffany Regier, Care Kunneman and Annie Haberman played but did not score.