Senior Rachel Utecht brings the ball down the court in Kimball’s home game against Foley Thursday, Dec. 13. Foley emerged the victor, 51-47. Photo courtesy of Amanda Garding.
By Pat Garry, Staff Writer
It was a tough test for the Kimball basketball girls last week, as they first lost, 62-29, to
number–1 ranked Annandale Tuesday, Dec. 11; then dropped a battle with the number-5 ranked Foley Falcons, 51-47, Thursday.
(Annandale Game) The Cubs traveled to Annandale to face a tough 5-0 Cardinals squad. Obviously, Kimball needed to bring their “A” game and plenty of positive thinking. The Cubs jumped out to an early lead on a field goal by Erin O’Brien, and on the next possession, O’Brien made a nice drop-down pass to Rachel Utecht for a 4-3 Kimball lead. Sidney Schreiner and Ashley Schindele followed up with three pointers to put the Cubs up 10-3, five minutes into the contest. The Cardinals answered back and aided by some Kimball foul trouble, took a 35-21 halftime lead. The Cubs failed to muster up any offense in the second half, as they witnessed Annandale connect on 9 of 18 shooting from the 3-point line and run away with the win. Kimball Stats: Ashley Schindele, 11 points; Erin O’Brien, 6 points, 12 rebounds, 4 assists; Sidney Schreiner, 6 points; Madelyn Hunt, 4 points; Rachel Utecht,
2 points; Cailyn Kuechle, 3 assists; Holly Berscheid, 1 steal. “Our girls came out ready and they showed some confidence early, but when we started to run out of steam, the score kind of took the wind out of our sails. We have to give credit to a good Cardinals team that kept coming at us, and it was a good experience that we can learn from. We probably get a lot more out of a game like this than we realize right now, and it should help us identify some areas that we need to improve on … and then it’s on to the next opponent,” said Coach Jeremy Kuechle.
(Foley Game) Foley came into the contest undefeated and ranked No. 5 in the latest QRF rankings. Kimball took a 17-11 lead early on, as Ashley Schindele had the hot hand, connecting on five three-point buckets in the first half. Despite surrendering 7 points in the waning seconds of the first stanza, the Cubs managed a 31-30 advantage. The second half was a good battle, but the Falcons ultimately took control and prevented the Cubs’ valiant effort to execute the upset. “We just had a few too many turnovers in critical moments down the stretch tonight. We are playing some pretty good teams of late, and I think it’s helping us get better; though we don’t always get the “W’s” to show for it. Hopefully the payoff will come down the road as we try to stay consistent with a high level of play. We have more quality opponents next week,” Coach Kuechle remarked. Kimball Stats: Ashley Schindele, 23 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists;
Sidney Schreiner, 11 points; Rachel Utecht, 4 points; Madelyn Hunt, 3 points; Cailyn Kuechle, 3 points; Erin O’Brien, 3 points, 11 rebounds, 4 assists.