The Nemaha Central Middle School girls basketball team traveled to Hiawatha on Thursday, October 27. The seventh grade played at the high school and the eighth grade played at the middle school. The eighth grade team was very determined to beat the Hiawatha Red Hawks because of the very close game last season.
The eighth grade A-team started off the night ready to beat the Red Hawks. The first quarter didn’t quite go as planned with the Red Hawks leading 1-10. The Thunder team continued to push through in the second quarter but trailed at halftime with a score of 7-18.
Starting up the second half, the Thunder kept trying to get a lead against the Red Hawks and closed the gap in the third quarter 19-23. In the fourth quarter, the girls were looking to rack up some points to get a lead. The Thunder girls weren’t able to get the lead, but they tied the game 24-24 to send it to overtime. The three-minute overtime kept everyone on their toes, but unfortunately, the Red Hawks took this one away with a close score of 25-29.
Marin Heinen said, “We came out of the first half down by 11 points and we fought our way back into overtime and we came just short of a few points. We worked really hard and never gave up.”
Next up, the eighth grade B-team followed the A-team game in the middle school gym. The Thunder girls started off in the first quarter ready to play, but the Red Hawks took the lead at the end of the first quarter by 10 points, with a score of 2-12. Coming back in the second quarter, the girls were ready to rack up some more points, but couldn’t get any shots to fall. The Thunder was trailing the Red Hawks at halftime 2-24.
Coming out of halftime, the Thunder girls started off the second half, and ended up scoring two points. They ended the third quarter 4-33. At the start of the fourth quarter, the team was looking to improve their offense but were still only able to score two more points. The Thunder lost this game 6-42.
Now moving over to the high school gym, the seventh grade A-team kicked off the night looking to add another win under their belts with a victory against the Red Hawks. The Thunder took a dominating lead in the first quarter, with a score of 6-0. In the second quarter, the team continued their lead, but only racked up three more points, ending the half with a score of 9-5.
After halftime, the defense was strong shutting out the Red Hawks. The Thunder added four more points to the scoreboard, ending the quarter, 13-5. In the fourth quarter, the Thunder kept up the momentum and scored five points, and ended the game with a victory, 18-11.
“Hiawatha played very hard, but we also played strong from start to finish and came out with a win!” said Kennedy McKee.
Next up, the Thunder seventh grade B-team was looking to continue the winning night for the seventh grade against the Red Hawks. The first quarter was a defensive battle as neither team scored much. The Thunder had the lead 4-2 by the end of the quarter. In the second quarter, the Thunder team got the offense going and added another eight points to the board. They held the Red Hawks to four points, ending the first half 12-6.
The girls came back out after halftime strong, to score four more points ending the quarter with a Thunder lead, 16-9. The Thunder kept working the offense to score 10 points in the fourth quarter and finished the night with a win, 26-13.
The Thunder seventh grade teams had a great night with both teams getting a victory. The eighth grade fell short in one of their games with an overtime loss. Although the overall night did not go as expected, there is room for improvement. The Thunder will get another chance to battle the Red Hawks a second time in the Thunderdome later in the season.
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