The Nemaha Central Middle School Thunder basketball team traveled to Hiawatha on Friday, January 21 hoping to play well on the road and pick up a few more wins.
The eighth grade A-team started out blow for blow in the first quarter. At the end of the first quarter, the Thunder were up with a score of 8-7. In the second quarter, the Red Hawks outscored the Thunder 8-6, leaving the score at the end of the half 15-14.
At the start of the second half, scoring was very scarce but the Thunder team was able to move ahead with a score of 19-16. The Thunder extended their lead in the fourth quarter and went on to win the game with a score of 27-16.
“It wasn’t our best basketball, but we powered through and got the win,” said Jordan Lewis.
In the eighth-grade B-team game, the Thunder got off to a slow start, whereas the Red Hawks started off hot. The score at the end of the first quarter was 2-7 with the Thunder trailing. NC still struggled to score in the second quarter, while Hiawatha couldn’t stop scoring. At halftime, the Thunder was down even more with a score of 2-15.
Once the second half had commenced, the scoring turned. The Thunder closed the gap down to six with an 11-17 score at the end of the third quarter. In the fourth quarter, the Red Hawks extended their lead to capture the win, 13-25.
In the seventh grade A-team game, NC got off to a hot start. They ended the quarter up 9-5. During the second quarter, both teams found their stride. The score at halftime was 19-17 with a small Thunder lead.
At the start of the second half, the Thunder kept scoring and by the end of the third quarter, they were up 31-23. NC outscored Hiawatha in the final quarter 12-5 to finish the game with a 43-28 win.
“It was a good game and they really wanted it, but we wanted it more,” said Caleb Hynek.
During the seventh-grade B-team game, the Thunder played suffocating defense and great offense. The Thunder took a commanding 14-0 lead by the end of the first quarter. In the second quarter, NC got outscored 5 to 1 making the halftime score 15-5 with a Thunder lead.
At the start of the second half, the Thunder put up 6 points to Hiawatha’s 2. The score at the end of the third quarter was 21-7. During the fourth quarter, both teams struggled to score, but the Thunder team walked away with the win, 25-8.
In the end, Nemaha Central had a great outing at Hiawatha. All teams hope to keep up their level of play throughout the rest of the season.
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