The Holton Wildcats hosted the Nemaha Central Middle School Thunder basketball team on Monday, February 7. The teams were looking to beat the Holton Wildcats and to add some more wins to their successful season.
The eighth-grade A-team’s game started with the Thunder coming out hot right out of the gate scoring 12 points. Holton responded by scoring half that with 6 points. The second quarter saw the Wildcats get back into the game by scoring 7 points and NC slowed down only scoring 6 points. This found NC leading at the half, 18-13.
As the second half of the eighth-grade A-game started, the Thunder looked to keep scoring and put the game away as the Wildcats sought to take the lead. Holton was able to keep the Thunder at bay and allowed them to score only 4 points while the Wildcat offense was still trying to get back in the game scoring 5 points. At the start of the fourth quarter, the score was 22-18. The Wildcats looked to win the game with crucial threes but only converted on 1. The Wildcats also hit a 2-point basket to score 5 total, while the Thunder team scored a total of 6 important free throws which closed out the game. When the clock hit zero, it was all over and the final score was 28-23.
The next game was the eighth-grade B-team game. The game started as a defensive battle from both sides. The Thunder only scored 4 points, while Holton managed to take the lead by one, scoring 5 points. The next quarter didn’t see much scoring with NC only scoring 4 points and Holton scoring none. At the end of the first half, the score was 8-5 with NC leading the game.
The second half of the game saw the Thunder knock down more shots and rack up 8 points in total, while the Wildcats started to pick up the pace, scoring 6 points. The fourth quarter had thrilling action with both teams scoring big buckets. The Thunder had the lead with a 21-18 score after free throws with seconds left in the game. Holton needed a last-second shot to try to tie the game. So the Wildcats came out with a game plan and tried to shoot a three but missed. The final score was 21-18 with a close Thunder victory.
Hendryx Wahl said, “We fought hard, showed effort, and came out with a win.”
The next game was the seventh grade A-team. The Thunder started hot, scoring 11 points in the first quarter and shutting out the Wildcats. The second quarter saw the same thing for the Wildcats scoring no points, while NC, shooting consistently, scored 15 points. At the end of the half, the score was 26-0 Thunder.
Holton tried to rally back by scoring 8 points, but the Thunder still had a commanding lead and kept pounding points out, scoring 9 points. At the start of the fourth quarter, NC controlled the pace of the game and scored 9 points and only allowed Holton to score 2 points. In the end, the final score was 44-10, submitting another win on the list for the night.
“We came out and did what we needed to do and it was a good win,” said Conner Lueger.
The last game of the night was the seventh-grade B-team game. It started off slow resulting in only the Thunder scoring 3 points while the Wildcats mimicked the 7th- grade A team game, scoring 0 points. The second quarter saw the same thing for Holton scoring no points. The Thunder on the other hand came back to life and scored 8 points. At the end of the first half, the score was 11-0.
The second half saw similar things with the Thunder team, improving, scoring 12 points and the Wildcats still struggling to score, scoring just 1 point. So at the start of the fourth quarter, the score was 23-1. NC holding on to a strong lead only managed to squeak out 2 points but held the Wildcats again to 1 point. The final score to end the night was 25-2 and this added the last NC win of the night.
All of these wins gave the Thunder a clean sweep over the Holton teams. As the season winds down, NC will continue to work hard and improve their skills for the rest of the season.
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