The Kimball girls’ basketball team faced two conference opponents this past week, coming up on the short end in both contests. First, Kimball traveled to Maple Lake Tuesday, Feb. 9, hoping to back up an earlier-season win against the Irish, and go for the season sweep. Maple Lake had other ideas however, as they really focused on stopping the post play of the Cubs, while holding the rebounding advantage as well. Maple Lake won a tight 39-37 game, where Kimball could not make a run of any kind in the game to pull ahead and take a convincing lead. Kimball’s scoring line was as follows: Sarah Messer 6, Tesslynn Callander 6, Rachel Arnold 6, Megan Garding 5, Natalie Stein 4, Shannon Donnay 4, Mandy Wittenberg 4, and Liz Kastanek 2. Friday, Feb. 12, things didn’t improve for the Cubs, as Howard Lake showed early why they are the number one team in the conference, as they jumped out to an early 37-10 halftime lead to eliminate any hopes of a Kimball upset. Howard Lake finished with a 65-39 win and remained undefeated in conference play. Kimball was led by Arnold’s 9 points, followed by Stein with 8, while Callander and Garding each had 7 points. Wittenberg scored 4, Messer 2, and Kayla Myers 2. The loss is the fourth straight for the Cubs dropping their record to 11-10 overall, as they have only one scheduled game at Rockford next week Thursday, Feb. 18. Go Big Blue!
