Bison girls hold off second-half Hastings rally

HASTINGS, Nebraska -- The McCook High School girls basketball team is learning how to win games.

The Bison girls held off a second-half Hastings charge to claim a 52-47 win over the host Tigers Friday, Jan. 14.

McCook turned in a strong first. The Bison stretched a 14-6 first-quarter cushion to 23-8 in the second period after a free throw by Morgan Schaeffer and two more charity shots by Laura Brooks. McCook led 26-13 at intermission.

"We came out of the gate on all cylinders to start the game and got out to a big lead that kind of carried us through the first half," said McCook head coach Jeff Ellis. "We took a 13-point lead at halftime and we were feeling pretty good about things. The first half, we just executed real well. We used our defense to kind of lead to some offense, which is what we preach to the girls. We used our transition offense to set us up for a lot of good buckets, a lot of good offense there in the first half."

The Bison used a 3-point shot by Emilyne Nichols and a layup by Brooks to build a 35-16 lead midway through the third period. Then Hastings began a rally that saw the Tigers cut the McCook lead to 36-25 at the end of the quarter.

"They made some adjustments -- you've got to give credit to Hastings, too, a little bit," Ellis said. "They picked up their tempo, picked up their pace, kind of came out with some fire in the third quarter. They created some turnovers."

Hastings got within six points with three minutes left in the contest. Meagan Carfield rebounded a missed McCook shot and followed with a shot from the lane to put the Bison ahead 45-37. Brooks scored in the paint following a Hastings turnover and Laura was fouled on the shot. She missed the free throw, but McCook led 47-37 with just under two minutes left.

Hastings scored six straight points, including four from the free throw line, to cut the McCook lead to 47-43 with just over a minute remaining. Nichols made one of two free throws, then Hastings scored a basket with 36 seconds left to get within 48-45.

Kassidy Gillen hit two free throws for the Bison, and Hastings answered with a basket by Zoe Mays with 16 seconds to go. The Tigers fouled Gretchen Sehnert, and she made one of two free throws for a 51-47 lead with 12 seconds left. Gillen controlled the rebound after Sehnert missed her second charity shot, and McCook ran several seconds off the clock before Hastings could foul. Nichols made one of two free throws with two seconds left for the final margin.

Turnovers have plagued McCook in recent games, with several 30-plus turnover totals. The Bison committed just 19 miscues Friday, according to Coach Ellis.

"We had lower turnover stats than we had the last few games, but yet the majority of the turnovers we had were late in the third quarter and carried over to the early fourth quarter," Ellis said. "The majority of our 19 turnovers came in that stretch when they really put a run on us. That was a little frustrating, against a team that we felt we should have handled the pressure a little more.

"There was still a little stretch in that game where we didn't handle it the best, and that's what allowed them to claw their way back into the game. Then it was a dogfight to the end. But our girls did what they needed to at the end of the game to allow us to come out of there with a five-point win, which was huge."

Ellis said it was a little disappointing that his team couldn't have kept stretching the gap in the second half, but he and his team will take the win.

"I wanted to have the girls come out in the second half and just extend that lead," he said. "It would have been nice to come out of there with a 15-, 20-point win, but it didn't happen, and that's OK. We did what we needed to do to secure the win. It wasn't the prettiest basketball late in the third quarter and early in the fourth quarter."

Brooks led McCook with 16 points and Sehnert added 15 points. Hastings was led by Zoe Mays with 15 points.

Hastings slipped to 2-11.

Kansas tournament

McCook improved to 6-9 with the annual Orange and Black Tournament in Colby, Kansas, on tap this week. The Bison girls will face Hugoton, Kansas, Thursday, Jan. 20, at 3 p.m. at the Colby Community Building in first-round tournament action.