Excited Middle School basketball girls showed up early Saturday, November 16 to play in a tournament hosted at Nemaha Central. Sabetha, Atchison, and Marysville were invited to play in this tournament.
The first to play was the seventh graders. They first faced Atchison. To start off the game, the Thunder got the ball and went down to score. They scored four points in the first quarter, keeping Atchison scoreless. In the second quarter, the Thunder scored twelve points while keeping Atchison off of the scoreboard. The halftime score was 16-0.
The Thunder came back out in the third quarter scoring six. They couldn’t keep the defense up and they let Atchison score six. In the fourth quarter, the Thunder came out strong and scored eight points. The Thunder’s defense picked up in the last quarter and Atchison did not add to their score. The Thunder won with a score of 30-6.
Next to play was the eighth graders. They were also going up against Atchison. In the first quarter, Atchison scored seven points while the Thunder only scored three. In the second quarter, the Thunder scored four while Atchison scored six points. The halftime score was 13-7 with Atchison leading.
In the second half, both teams came back and scored five points. In the fourth quarter, the Thunder made a huge comeback scoring sixteen points to pull ahead of Atchison. The Thunder picked up their defense only letting Atchison score four points. The Thunder won the game 28-25.
“Even though we had injured players, our team did good against the competition,” said Ashlyn Gudenkauf.
The seventh grade took a break during the eighth grade game and came back ready to face Marysville. The Thunder team came out strong in their offense scoring six points. Marysville only scored four that quarter. In the second quarter, the Thunder scored eight. They picked up their defense and Marysville only scored one point that quarter. The score at halftime was 14-5.
The second half of the game, the Thunder came out and scored seven points and Marysville scored five in the third quarter. In the fourth quarter, the Thunder scored one point, while Marysville went on to score six. The Thunder managed to keep the lead winning the game 22-16.
“It was a very close game but it was fun to play against different schools,” said Cali Honeyman.
The eighth graders came out ready to beat Marysville. The Thunder went out, scoring three points in the first quarter, while Maryville scored eleven. The next quarter, the Thunder’s defense picked up and Marysville only scored five as the Thunder got their offense working and they scored five also. The Thunder eighth grade team was again trailing at half 16-8.
In the third quarter, the Thunder scored six points and so did Marysville. In the fourth quarter, the Thunder outscored Marysville 6-4, but it was not enough. The Thunder fell a few points short with the final score being 26-20.
Overall, the Thunder played great in the tournament. The girls are halfway through the season and they hope to play well in the remaining games to add a few more wins to their records. Way to go Lady Thunder!