Sports News - February 6-11
Launch the media gallery 1 playerPierce Boys Win Mid-State Championship by Ty Lindsay
Pierce defeated Boone Central 46-40 at Wayne State College on February 6 in the championship game of the Mid-State Conference tournament.
In the first quarter Pierce outscored Boone Central 8-7. Bronson Stonacek had a nice turn-around jumper under the basket. In the second quarter, the Jays once again outscored the Cardinals 9-5. Lane Rohrich had an athletic layup that helped the Jays start to pull away. At half, the Bluejays led 17-12.
During the third quarter, the Bluejays connected from long range, thanks to Lane Rohrich and Devin West. At the end of the third the Jays were up 31-29. In a hard fought fourth quarter, the Jays again outscored the opponents 15-11 and were victorious due to free throws and defense. The Bluejays were 14 of 21 from the line, which held off the Cardinal’s last chance efforts to tie the game. Pierce committed only 8 turnovers in the game while the Cardinals committed 11, the Jays were beaten 24-28 in rebounds, but Pierce had six steals; the Cards, none.
Lane Rohrich was the leading scorer for the game with 18 points, followed by Brandon Freeman with 9 points, and Eddie Francois and Bronson Stonacek with 7 points each. The Bluejays were only 4 of 14 from 3-point range, but had a lot of post looks and driving the ball to the hoop. On the defensive side, Connor Reed had 10 rebounds that led the team. The Bluejays are to play Guardian Angels Central Catholic on Thursday, February 9 in Pierce.
Girls Second in Midstate Tournament by Pierce County Leader
The Pierce Lady Jays basketball team fell to Boone Central, 57-37, in the championship game of the Midstate Conference Tournament on Monday night, February 6, at Wayne State College Rice Auditorium.
The Lady Jays fell victim to cold shooting, especially in a poor first quarter, to finish in second place in the conference tournament.
The Lady Jays scored just 2 points in the first quarter and committed too many turnovers against the full-court press by a tough Boone Central defense. The Lady Cardinals scored 10 points in the first quarter.
In the second quarter Pierce scored 7 points to the Lady Cardinals' 10 again, and Pierce trailed 9-20 at the half.
Continuing to improve, the Lady Jays put up 12 points in the third quarter, but Boone Central burned the nets for 21. Then the Lady Jays scored 16 in the final quarter, and Boone Central scored 16 for the 20 point deficit to end the game.
Altogether, Pierce committed 28 turnovers, a major factor in the loss. The Lady Cards committed 15. The Lady Jays shot 35 percent on 2 point shots and 33 percent on 3 pointers. Boone shot 39 percent and 29 percent respectively. The Lady Jays made 8 of 14 free throws; the Cards, 11 of 19. Rebounding was fairly even: Pierce 32, Boone Central 35. Boone Central had 19 steals to Pierce's 9.
Jacy Bretschneider, Morgan Buckendahl, and Rachel Wiedenfeld each contributed 7 points to Pierce's effort. Devin Gnat had 6. Wiedenfeld and Ellie Pytleski each grabbed 6 rebounds. Haley Hoffman and Bretschneider grabbed 5 boards apiece.
The Lady Jays play the Guardian Angels Central Catholic of West Point on Thursday, February 9, JV girls starting at 5:00 p.m. followed by the varsity at 6:30 p.m.
Varsity Girls Whip Creighton by Molly Harris
The Pierce Lady Jays’ basketball team sent the Creighton Bulldogs home, yipping from a rough game on Tuesday, February 7 . The Lady Jays beat the Lady Bulldogs in the varsity game 56 to 15. Pierce shot up the Creighton offense and blocked down their defense. Ten of Creighton’s points were made with free throws. Pierce’s total number of assists was sixteen to Creighton’s two. Creighton had 22 rebounds while Pierce nearly doubled them at 43. Pierce more than doubled the number of steals Creighton had: Pierce had 18, and Creighton had 8.
Pierce led 14 to zero at the start of the second quarter. At the end of the first half, Pierce was in a ferocious lead at 29 to two. Creighton brought their score up to four in the third quarter, but by then Pierce had 43 points. By the finish of the game the Bulldogs were leashed up to their loss while the Jays took flight and were ready for sub-districts starting on Monday, February 13.
Pierce’s top players were Morgan Buckendahl with twelve points and four rebounds, and Rachel Weidenfeld with eight points, four rebounds, and five assists. Krystina Koepke had eight points and three rebounds, and Ellie Pytleski had seven points, three rebounds, and three assists.
JV Girls Crush GACC by Timaree Reed
The Pierce JV girls defeated the Guardian Angels Central Catholic of West Point by a comfortable 47-18. WPGA was unable to go against Pierce’s aggressive offense. The game was held at the Pierce High gymnasium on February 9.
Katie Atkins scored the first 4 points for the Lady Jays right away. Jacy Bretschneider followed with a drive inside to score a lay up. The Lady Jays played a tight defense against WPGA to keep them from scoring more than 10 points. At the end of the first the Lady Jays were ahead 13-6.
In the second quarter Devin Gnat scored a jump shot to give the Lady Jays some points. However, the Lady Jays were practicing shots from the outside instead of their usual working the ball to the inside, and Pierce scored only 6 points in the quarter. At the end of the first half Pierce was ahead 19-10.
The Lady Jays opened up their offense in the third quarter. Gnat and Sydney Silhacek scored back-to-back 3 pointers to give the Lady Jays an even bigger lead, and there were some nice assists to post players for points from under the basket. The Lady Jays outscored WPGA 15-4 leaving the score 34-14 at the end of the quarter.
WPGA started the final quarter with the ball, but Briana Polt was able to steal the ball and go in for a layup. The Lady Jays’ offense never slowed down. At the end of the second half the Lady Jays again outscored WPGA 13-4.
Rachelle Tucker and Devin Gnat led their team’s offense with twelve points apiece. Katie Atkins had seven.
Branigan Stonacek said, “The team passed and transitioned well together. We were able to stay ahead by so much because of how well we played defense and by coming out strong in the second half.”
JV Lady Jays Dominate Lady Bulldogs by Timaree Reed
The Pierce JV Lady Jays defeated the Creighton Lady Bulldogs by an easy 51-25. The Lady Bulldog’s full court defense was no match for the Lady Jays fast offense. The game was played at the Pierce High gymnasium on February 7.
The game started with the Lady Jays controlling the ball, but the Bulldogs got the ball after a mistake by the Lady Jays. Devin Gnat was able to steal the ball back and hand off to Rachelle Tucker, who went in for an easy layup to score the team’s first points. With a few minutes left the Lady Jays held the Bulldogs on the baseline for 5 seconds to take away the ball. This gave Gnat the chance to score a 3 pointer. At the end of the first the Lady Jays were ahead 13-4.
In the second quarter the Lady Jays were unable to score many points against the Bulldogs. Gnat and Briana Polt were the only players able to score giving the Lady Jays 6 points together and leaving the Lady Jays still ahead 19-13 at half.
The Lady Jays were able to open their offense up in the third quarter allowing the team to score more points. Sydney Silhacek was able to find a hole to drive inside and make an easy jump shot. Gnat’s steals also helped to give the Lady Jays an advantage over the Bulldogs and allowed more shots to sink. At the end of the third quarter the Lady Jays led 35-20.
Gnat started the fourth quarter off strong by sinking a 3 pointer. Shortly after, Tucker scored a jump shot to give the Lady Jays an even bigger lead. In the last minute Silhacek scored an open 3-point shot. The Lady Jays held the Lady Bulldogs to scoring only 5 points in the fourth quarter.
Gnat led all scorers with 17 points. Tucker had 13; Silhacek had 8.
Devin Gnat said,” As a team we attacked the baskets well and put pressure on the Bulldogs.”
Frosh Boys in Tourney by Tiffany Cheval
The freshman boys’ basketball team played in a tournament at Pierce on Saturday, February 11. The Bluejays played two teams scoring 23 points against Wayne’s 31 and 12 against Hartington Cedar Catholic’s 32.
In the game against Wayne, Noah Fisher scored 12 points on a three, two baskets, and free throws. Zach Brenden scored 7 points on three baskets and a free throw. Drew Fasse and Braden Taylor scored 2 points each. The team scored 2 points in the first quarter, 4 in the second quarter, 7 in the third quarter, and 10 in the fourth quarter scoring 23 points in the first game. Coach Gary Shada said he was pleased with the team’s defense.
In the game against Hartington CC Coach Shada said “We didn’t play as well as we should have.” In the first quarter the Jays scored 1 point, in the second quarter they scored 3 points, in the third quarter they scored 8 points, bringing them to 12 points to finish the tournament. Jared Cheney made six points; Fisher made three; Fasse made two, and Penne made one.
Pierce Boys Lose to Adams Central 27-40 by Ty Lindsay
The varsity boys’ basketball team traveled to Grand Island to compete against Adams Central in the Heartland Classic on Saturday, February 11. The games are meant to showcase the state’s great programs. Pierce lost to Hastings Adams Central 27-40.
The first quarter started off very slow for Pierce. The Jays did not score any points to the Patriots’ ten points. In the second quarter, the Bluejays scored 10 points. Bronson Stonacek had 4 points under the basket in the post. Connor Reed drained a wide open three, and Brandon Freeman had a nice lay up. At half, Pierce was down 10-23.
In the third quarter, the Jays were able to penetrate Adams Central’s defense and pitch to Devin West, who had three 3-pointers and a long jump shot. Adams Central’s defense was very big, which made it hard to move the ball around the perimeter. At the end of the third quarter, the score was 22-31, Adams Central’s advantage.
Adams Central ran away with the win in the fourth quarter, outscoring the Jays 11-5. Connor Reed added 2 points and Devin West had a 3. The Bluejays lost 27-40. Tyler Lindsay said, “We played hard and gave a lot of effort, but we couldn’t get shots to fall when we needed them.” Devin West led the way for the Jays with 14 points. The Jays were 20.0% from the 3-point line and were out-rebounded 29-24. The Jays play Wayne on Friday, February 17 at Wayne High.
JV Boys Lose to GACC by Ty Lindsay
The Pierce JV boys were defeated on February 9 by Guardian Angels Central Catholic in West Point. The score was 49-62. The Bluejay guards could not get much to fall in the beginning of the first quarter, so they relied on their big men, Chance Larsen and Eddie Francois. The two posts combined for 12 points in the first quarter. Chance Larsen, with his signature fade-away skyhook, converted on all 3 of his shooting attempts. On the defensive end, Pierce gave up 19 points in the first quarter. The Guardian Angels shot very well, making four 3-pointers. At the end of the first quarter, Pierce was down 13-19.
The second quarter swooshed by for the Guardian Angels. GACC scored 14 points. The Jays scored only 7 points. At half, Pierce was down 20-33. In the third quarter, Pierce tried to make a run at GACC’s lead. Nate Murray made a 3 pointer and Noah Fisher converted on a layup and a free throw. Eddie Francois made two free throws and added a bucket. The Jays struggled defending GACC’s scoring. At the end of the third quarter, the Guardian Angels led the Jays 31-47.
The Bluejays still had some fight in them in the fourth quarter. Zach Fehringer made three free throws and added 2 baskets. Theron Thornton added 4 points. Noah Fisher connected from long range and helped Pierce’s cause. The Bluejays scored 18 points in the fourth quarter, but the Jays were defeated 49-62. Eddie Francois led the Jays with 13 points.
The Bluejays play next on February 17 in Wayne.
Varsity Boys Fly Away with Win by Laurie Venteicher
Pierce’s varsity boys basketball team flew above and beyond West Point’s Guardian Angels Central Catholic (GACC) in Pierce’s last regular-season home game on February 9. Pierce defeated GACC 60-31.
The physical matchup was fairly even, with neither team having a size advantage over the other. GACC had two starting players out, a downside for West Point. During the game, Pierce’s Devin West was mostly left unguarded, and he turned in many baskets for Pierce.
In the first quarter, the Bluejays outscored the Angels 16-6. The second quarter followed suit, with Pierce leading the scoring 19 to 11. Pierce went into halftime leading 35-17 and again outscored GACC 12-9 in the third quarter. The final quarter was no different: the Jays led the scoring 13 points to the Angels’ 5 points.
West hit six three-point shots, leading all scorers with 22 total points. Connor Reed added 15 points, and Bronson Stonacek scored 12 points.
Senior team member Tyler Lindsay said, “We went into the game with confidence. All through the game we felt the win coming.”
Coach Emory thought the boys played well. “The boys did a good job on both ends of the floor,” he said.
Lady Jays Lose to GACC by Tiffany Cheval
Although the Pierce Lady Jays hit an average number of their shots in the basketball game against Guardian Angels Central Catholic at 38 percent, the West Point girls shot 62 percent, and the Lady Jays lost 29-47. The game was played at Pierce on Thursday, February 9.
The Lady Jays started the first quarter in a 4-13 hole, and although they outscored the opponents 9-4 in the second quarter, they still trailed 13-17 at the half. Both teams worked on defense in the third quarter, and neither scored many points: Pierce 5, Guardian Angels 7. In the last quarter the Lady Jays scored 11 points, but the West Point girls, in a scoring frenzy, hit 23 to win by 18. The Pierce girls hit one out of four 3-pointers; Guardian Angels, 3 of 19.
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