Sports News - February 8-13
Launch the media gallery 1 playerLady Jays Beat Bulldogs by Tom Uher
The Pierce Lady Jays played the Creighton Bulldogs at Pierce on Tuesday, February 9. Pierce built a big lead, scoring a rare 41 points in the first half, and won the game 57-33.
The first half was completely dominated by Pierce. Creighton couldn’t seem to find a way to stop the Lady Jays as they built their lead to 20-4 at the end of the first quarter. The second quarter was much the same with Pierce outscoring Creighton 21-8 to make the score 41-12.
The second half was a little slower game; Pierce and Creighton scored ten each in the third quarter, making the score 51-22. The fourth quarter ended with Pierce six and Creighton eleven to give Pierce the 24-point victory.
Heather Wachter led the scoring with 25 points and 10 rebounds, followed by Meghan Vogt with 10 points. Skyler Lippman said, “Every shot we took fell and everything went our way.” Coach Darren Sindelar said “The key was we came out right away and attacked Creighton. Our shots fell early, and we were able to take them out of their offense. Holding a team to 12 points while making 14 of our 18 shots in the first half is a very big accomplishment.”
JV Lady Jays Conquer Lady Bulldogs by Eva Chavez
The Pierce Lady Jays’ JV basketball team won 30-24 against Creighton on Tuesday, February 9 at Pierce. The Lady Jays’ started the game by outscoring the Lady Bulldogs in the first, second, and third quarters. Creighton outscored Pierce 9-7 points in the fourth quarter, but Pierce won by six.
During the first quarter, Pierce tripled Creighton’s points 6-2. Pierce made 3 of their 4 free throws in the second quarter. The Lady Jays scored 1 more point than the Lady Bulldogs in the second quarter, ending the first half ahead 15-10. In the third quarter, Pierce scored 8 points and Creighton scored 5. The fourth quarter proceeded with the Lady Bulldogs adding 2 more points to their final score than Pierce, but not enough to win.
Pierce’s top shooters were Briana Adams with 8 points and Payton Wragge with 6 points. Haley Hoffman, Rachel Wiedenfeld, and Morgan Buckendahl scored 4 apiece. Nicole Eddy added 2 points to the Lady Jays’ final score, and Branigan Stonacek and Claudia Flesner contributed 1 point apiece.
JV Jays Lose to West Point CC by Sarah Krohn
The JV boys’ basketball team lost to the West Point CC Bluejays 43-31 on Thursday, February 11. The Pierce boys started out the game with a not so pretty first quarter, and they trailed the West Point CC Bluejays 13 to 25 in the first half. Devin West started with a three pointer in the second quarter to give the Jays a boost then, but the defense couldn’t stop West Point.
Tyler Lindsay got two threes in the second half to help keep the score even, 8 points to each team in the third quarter, and 10 points to each team in the fourth.
Leading scorers were West with 12 points, followed by Lindsay with 10, and Jarold McWiliams with 9.
Coach Tim Waldner said, “I was very proud of the way the boys competed. We played with six guys who worked hard.” The boys’ next game is Saturday, February 20, at Stanton for a freshman/sophomore tournament.
Bluejays Edged by Knights by Megan Gerteisen
The Pierce High Bluejays played the Norfolk Catholic Knights at Pierce on Saturday, February 13, at 6:30. The Bluejays lost to the Knights 41-43 in a game that came down to the last second. Pierce had a chance to win on a three-point shot that just missed, and after a steal, got another two-point shot to tie, but that missed too.
Pierce started off the game slow, and ended the first quarter 4-11. However, during the second quarter, the Bluejays came back and scored 5 points to the Knights’ 2. Connor Schultz made a 3-pointer at the end of the second quarter to bring the score to 18-20 at the half. Pierce continued to play hard in the third quarter, sinking another 11 points, while Catholic made 14. Schultz once again connected with another 3-pointer at the end of the fourth quarter, bringing the Bluejay’s fourth quarter points to 12, and the Knights’ to 9.
Pierce connected on five 3-pointers, while Catholic made three. However, the Knights made 14 two-point shots to Pierce’s 7. Norfolk out-shot Pierce, 52 percent to 35 percent. From the charity stripe, Pierce made 12 free-throws, and Catholic made 6. The Knights out-rebounded Pierce 21-18, while Pierce had one more turnover than Catholic.
Connor Schultz led the team with 19 points, 9 of which were 3-pointers, and 8 of which were 2-pointers. Kenley Silhacek followed with 9; Derek Wiedenfeld was next with 5. Michael Hoffmann made 4 points, while Brandon Freeman and Brock Schroder both made 2.
Brock Schroder said, “The highlight of the game for me was when Connor Schultz made a 3-pointer at the end of the game to bring the score within 2 points.” Mr. Emory said, “We played solid defense, but had another slow start.”
The Bluejays will play again on February 19, at Wayne beginning at 4:45 with the freshmen sophomore game, followed by the junior varsity and the varsity games.
Junior Varsity Girls Win Last Game by Morgan Mattson
The Pierce JV Lady Jays got a scare but won their last game of the season against the West Point Central Catholic Lady Jays. The score was 48-43. The game was played at Pierce on Thursday, February 11.
In the first quarter, Pierce sank 12 points, but West Point was ahead by 1, with 13.
Pierce added 11 to West Point’s 10 in the second quarter, and the teams were tied 23-23 at the half.
Third quarter didn’t look so good. Pierce added 8. West Point added 17, and the Pierce JV Lady Jays were behind by 9 points, 31 to 40.
Even though they were down, the Pierce girls were determined, and their determination and hard work paid off. West Point added 3 to their score in the fourth quarter, while Pierce added 17 to end the game 48-43, Pierce.
Pierce’s junior varsity girls’ team lost only one game throughout the season for a record of 13-1.
Coach Jenn Scheer said, “It feels really good to have lost only one game, but we are a little bummed that we even lost that game because we were up with not too much time left. But we are happy with our record. What made the difference in this last game was determination: the girls were going to play well, regardless.”
Leading scorers were Haley Hoffman with 11 points and Branigan Stonacek with 10. Rachel Wiedenfeld scored 9 points, and Payton Wragge added 8. Katie Atkins and Morgan Buckendahl both added 4 points, and Briana Adams added 2.
“The highlight of the game was the fourth quarter when we came back and won! We wanted to win from the beginning, and we did!” stated junior Briana Adams.
Bluejays Skim by West Point by Laura Huff
The Pierce Bluejays varsity basketball team beat the West Point Central Catholic Bluejays on Thursday, February 11 with a final score 50-46.
In the first quarter Pierce scored fourteen points to West Point’s twelve. In the second quarter, Pierce scored ten points, as did West Point. At the half Pierce was leading West Point 24-22.
In the third Pierce scored ten points, but West Point was able to score eleven. In the last quarter Pierce was able to outscore West Point with sixteen points and West Point thirteen points. Coach Mike Emory said, “The boys never quit and found a way to win the game in the last two minutes.
All eight of Pierce’s players saw action in the game, and six scored. Brady Bretschneider shot two 2-pointers and two free throws for six points for the night. Brandon Freeman was one for two 2-pointers, and two for two on his free throws, scoring four points for the team.
Brock Schroder scored two of six 3-pointers, one of three 2-pointers, and four of five free throws, scoring twelve points. Connor Schultz scored one of three 3-pointers, three of five 2-pointers, and one of three free throws, adding ten points for the Jays. Schultz said, “We showed perseverance when we were down five with three minutes left, but we stepped up and won.” Kenley Silhacek scored four of ten 3-pointers and three of nine 2-pointers,18 points for the Jays.
Pierce out-rebounded West Point 21 to 20 and had 16 turnovers to West Point’s 17. Pierce shot 38.6 percent on the night. They were much better on their free throws, scoring nine of twelve.
West Point CC Beats Lady Jays by Linse De Grez
The Lady Jays varsity basketball team played at home against West Point CC on Thursday, February 11. Pierce was defeated by ten points, the final score 40 to 50.
West Point CC scored a lot in the first quarter, which made it difficult for Pierce to get over their score. Pierce could only score 4 points in the first quarter while West Point CC scored 24. The Lady Jays scored more points than WPCC in the second, third and fourth quarters, but they couldn’t score enough to defeat West Point CC. The score at half-time was 30-18 with Pierce scoring 14 and West Point CC 6 points in the second quarter.
Pierce scored 13 points in the third quarter and 9 in the fourth. West Point CC scored 12 in the third and 8 in the fourth. This made the final score to 50-40 for West Point CC.
Senior Joey Koehn scored a respectable 17 points, five 3-pointers and one 2 point field goal. Meghan Vogt scored 8 points and led the team in rebounds with a total of 9. Morgan Buckendahl and Heather Wachter scored four points each, Buckendahl also had 8 rebounds in the game. Ellie Pytleski, Branigan Stonacek, and Skyler Lippman scored 2 points each and Rachel Wiedenfeld, 1. Lippman had 4 steals.
Coach Darren Sindelar said: “I thought the girls competed the whole game. But we dug ourselves a hole early and just couldn't get out of it. We had good shots in the first quarter; they just did not fall. Their pressure hurt us early. Once we settled in, we played some pretty good basketball. We just need to keep improving going into sub-districts.”
Pierce JV Boys Suffer Loss to NC Knights by Caleb Erickson
The Pierce Bluejay boys’ JV team lost in a hard-fought battle against the Norfolk Catholic Knights at the Pierce High gymnasium on Saturday, February 13. The Pierce boys played well but still couldn’t come out on top with the final score of the game being Bluejays 30, Knights 44.
In the first quarter both teams came out playing hard and doing fairly well. The Bluejays got into the game and scored a quick 9 points but the Knights started better by scoring 15 in the first. In the second quarter the Bluejays played decent offense and better defense, scoring 10 points and holding the Knights to the same. The score at halftime was Bluejays 19, Knights 25.
The Knights remained on top by scoring 13 points and the Bluejays 8 in the third. In the fourth quarter both teams’ defense picked up and it was a low-scoring quarter with the Bluejays scoring just 3 and the Knights coming away with 6 points.
Michael Hoffmann said, “We played good defense, but we need to cut back on turnovers.” The team’s top scorer was Tyler Lindsay with over half of the Bluejays’ points. The JV team’s coach Tim Waldner said, “We played very hard and competed well. I was proud of the kids’ effort and our changes in the fourth quarter.” The Bluejays JV team will play again on Friday, February 19 in Wayne against the Blue Devils.
Pierce Jr. High BBB
The Pierce Jr. High Boys Basketball teams had a successful road trip last week winning three out of four games after traveling to both Madison and Creighton. The 7th graders managed to slip by the Dragons by a score of 26-21 in a game that was just short of a UFC cage fight while the 8th graders won 35-23 showcasing a tremendous defensive effort that left Madison scoreless in the third quarter.
The 7th graders had no problem in their next game versus Creighton as they showed a great work ethic that produced 38 points while holding the Bulldogs to a mere 9. The 8th graders came up just short in a very well fought battle with the result being 31-36.
