Cubs girls fall to Royalton, Paynesville

The Kimball girls’ varsity basketball team hosted two games last week: Royalton on Thursday, Feb. 6, and Paynesville on Tuesday, Feb. 4.

Royalton

The game started with sophomore Mazie Jurek scoring down low, Lexi Schindele made a field goal, was fouled, and scored the free-throw. 

“The Cubs trailed 10-7 six minutes in. Royalton made a run and pushed their lead to 23-7 when Kimball answered with a three-pointer by senior Lily VonWahlde, two free-throws by sophomore Hope Kuechle, and another Jurek field goal,” said coach Jeremy Kuechle. 

The Royals pushed into the lead at the half with the score at 31-23.

“The Royals came out strong in the second half, building their lead to 45-25 five minutes into the second half, and never looked back as Royalton cruised hitting 14 three-pointers in the contest,” said Kuechle. 

In the second half, Jordyn Theis scored a three-pointer while Lexi Schindele scored six field goals. 

At the end of the game, Mazie Jurek had 12 points, 5 rebounds; Lexi Schindele with 9 points, 9 rebounds; Sami Winter with 7 points, 10 rebounds; Lily VonWahlde with 6 points, 3 rebounds; Jordyn Theis with 3 points, 2 rebounds; and Hope Kuechle with 2 points, 9 assists. 

Kimball’s record is 12-7 overall, and 6-3 in the CMC.

The 63-39 victory maintains the Royals’ undefeated record at 20-0 so far this season.

Paynesville

Kimball “jumped out to a 6-0 lead as sophomores Hope Kuechle and Mazie Jurek scored the first three field goals for Kimball,” said coach Jeremy Kuechle. 

A 16-point run by the Bulldogs secured their lead with 7:12 left to play in the first half. Sami Winter scored the following four field goals for the Cubs inside the lane. Kimball was trailing 22-14 with five minutes left in the first half. Mazie Jurek scored two free-throws, and Hope Kuechle scored a three-pointer. The Bulldogs kept up their fight and answered with a three-pointer in the final minute, leaving the score at the end of the half 25-19 in favor of the Bulldogs. 

“Paynesville jumped out with torrid shooting in the second half as the Cubs failed to shoot effectively on offense,” said coach Kuechle. 

The Bulldogs continued to widen the gap, making the final score 51-29. 

At the end of the game, Sami Winter had 9 points, 7 rebounds; Hope Kuechle with 9 points, 5 rebounds; Mazie Jurek 6 points, 9 rebounds; Isabelle Schmitz 5 points, 8 rebounds; Jordyn Theis 2 rebounds; Lily VonWahlde 2 steals; and Holly Truenow with 1 rebound.

“It’s a long season,” said coach Kuechle. “We seem to be in a bit of a rut right now, if we can focus on doing the little things better and still playing loose, we will play better and shoot better …. We’re the same group of players we were a month ago. We just need to stay hungry to compete and we will be fine.”