By Pat Garry, Staff Writer
The Kimball girls played a pair of games at the end of last week and ran into a pair of buzz saws. On Thursday, Jan. 10, the Cubs lost to the 9-and-1 Swanville Bulldogs, 75-63, and Friday’s game with Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted ended in a Lakers’ 66-58 victory. (Swanville Game) Swanville started with hot shooting and jumped out to a 20-8 lead just eight minutes into the action. By halftime the Bulldogs pushed the lead to 54-26. Kimball struggled to stop Swanville’s Emily Beseman, who scored 35 points. The Cubs finished the game on a 20-2 run and brought the final deficit to a much more respectable 12 points. Kimball Stats: Erin O’Brien, 24 points, 9 rebounds, 3 assists; Madelyn Hunt, 12 points, 4 steals, 2 assists; Rachel Utecht, 10 points, 5 rebounds; Cailyn Kuechle, 7 points, 3 assists; Sidney Schreiner, 6 points, 4 assists; Ashley Schindele, 2 points; Ellie Kuechle, 2 points, 2 assists; Hailey Bue, 2 steals. (Howard Lake Game) Three pointers by Ashley Schindele and a bucket by Rachel Utecht gave the Cubs an early 8-0 lead to start the game. Howard Lake briefly took back the lead at 17-16, but Kimball’s Ashley Schindele hit her third trey to regain the lead, 19-17. The Lakers held a 27-24 halftime lead, but second-stanza action began with Cubs buckets by Sidney Schreiner, Rachel Utecht, Erin O’Brien, and Ashley Schindele, which pushed Kimball out to a 37-33 advantage. The Kimball girls contained the Lakers’ best ball handler, CJ Decker, but HLWW’s Alexa Schumann took over and scored 21 second-half points, putting the Lakers on top. Baskets by Rachel Utecht and Madelyn Hunt gave Kimball a 50-49 lead with 5:43 left in the game. But Howard Lake regained the lead one last time and ultimately prevailed in the final minutes. Kimball Stats: Ashley Schindele, 23 points, 4 steals (7/12 on threes); Erin O’Brien, 16 points, 10 rebounds; Rachel Utecht, 12 points, 6 rebounds; Madelyn Hunt, 4 points; Sidney Schreiner, 3 points, 5 rebounds; Cailyn Kuechle, 7 assists. “Our kids played hard and the effort and focus was good to see after a tough Swanville game. I really thought we bounced back well and responded in Howard Lake, despite a close back-and-forth game that didn’t finish in our favor,” Coach Jeremy Kuechle expressed. Kimball’s overall record drops to 6-9 and 3-2 in the CMC.