ACGC game
On Tuesday, Feb. 14, Kimball traveled to ACGC, to take on the Falcons in a Valentine’s Day conference matchup.
The Falcons came out on fire and hungry, and jumped out to a 24-8 advantage, as Kimball struggled to find offense and were plagued by the turnover bug. In the final five minutes of the half, however, the Cubs found their groove with Kristen Hilbert scoring twice and also getting to the free-throw line. Ellie Kuechle nabbed some ill-advised passes and took them in for layups, and Olivia Mortenson grabbed a scoring layup of her own, as Kimball closed in and trailed 28-21 at half-time.
In the second half, the -Falcons drained a three and pushed their lead to 33-21, before the Cubs decided they’d had enough. E. Kuechle and Hilbert exchanged buckets, and Allie Leither scored inside, as Kimball trimmed the ACGC lead. A couple more steals and layups by E. Kuechle, followed by a three-pointer by Brookelyn -Kuechle, closed the lead to one point, at 37-36, with 11:40 to play. Hilbert scored next to give Kimball the lead, but ACGC answered and took it back, and led 42-38 with 8:18 remaining. B. -Kuechle then connected on another three-pointer to cut the lead to 41-42. Ellie -Kuechle went beast-mode and scored Kimball’s next 17 points, as she gathered steals for layups, connected on a three-pointer, and knocked down 6-of-6 free-throws, to put the game safely in the Cubs’ hands at 58-46 with 1:18 to play. Emma Schmitz scored the final Cubs’ bucket on a nice assist from Holly Truenow after a steal by Isabelle Schmitz, and the Cubs finished off the Falcons by a final score of 60-48.
Ellie -Kuechle finished the contest with 33 points and 13 steals, surpassing Melanie (Marquardt) Knaus as the school’s all-time steals leader). One key team statistic was that the Cubs had 11 first-half turnovers – but committed just two turnovers in the second half, as they took care of the ball much better. -Kimball’s pressure defense also forced 29 ACGC turnovers in the contest. Kimball’s season record moves to 15-7 on the season.
Kimball stats: Brookelyn Kuechle, 6 pts, 2 assists; Olivia Mortenson, 2 pts, 2 assists; Allie Leither, 6 pts, 4 rebounds; Ellie Kuechle, 33 pts, 13 steals, 5 assists; Holly Truenow, 1 assist; Ava Molitor, 1 rebound, 1 assist; Isabelle Schmitz, 1 steal; Emily Krohn, 1 rebound; Emma Schmitz, 2 pts; Kristen Hilbert, 11 pts, 5 rebounds, 2 assists.
“When we’re bad it’s ugly, but when we get it together, wow, we can play well. Tonight the girls got it together by fighting through adversity and staying positive. I hope we can figure out how to play this good, more consistently,” said Coach Jeremy Kuechle.
Annandale game
Kimball hosted Annandale in non-conference action on Thursday, Feb. 16, with Parents’ Night being the theme.
The Cardinals jumped out to a 4-0 lead before Allie Leither scored on a nice feed from Ellie Kuechle in transition. On the next possession, Kristen Hilbert found a seam on an inbounds play and was fouled while shooting, making one-of-two free-throws. E. -Kuechle gave the Cubs the lead on a Euro-step fast-break layup to go ahead 5-4. After Annandale led 16-11, Olivia Mortenson, Myers, and Hilbert all scored in a -Kimball six-point run, giving the Cubs a 17-16 lead with 8 minutes to play in the first half. Kimball’s shooting cooled off, however, as many shots bounced out, and the Cardinals headed to the locker room with a 28-20 halftime lead.
In the second half, the Cubs couldn’t seem to pry the cover off the rim, as Annandale built their lead and, despite their efforts, the Cubs’ second-half scoring was abysmal, tallying just eight points. Annandale stretched out a 53-28 victory. Kimball made 9-of-27 two-point field goals and went 0-for-12 from trey range. Second-half points for Kimball all came from the charity stripe.
Kimball stats: Brookelyn Kuechle, 2 assists, 2 steals; Olivia Mortenson, 2 pts, 4 rebounds; Allie Leither, 3 pts; Ellie Kuechle, 4 pts, 4 steals, 3 assists; Hallie Arnold, 1 pt, 2 steals, 1 charge taken; Ava Molitor, 2 pts, 2 rebounds; Isabelle Schmitz, 2 pts; Emily Krohn, 1 steal; Emma Schmitz, 1 rebound; Lexi Myers, 8 pts; Kristen Hilbert, 6 pts, 6 rebounds.
“It looked like we were going to be in line for a fun and exciting game all the way to the end, but we just struggled to knock down our shots for a stretch; and I think it affected our confidence for the rest of the game,” Coach Kuechle remarked.