Lady Cubs play a pair

Kimball traveled to take on Sauk Centre (rated 10th in class 2A) on Tuesday, Dec. 19. 

Sauk Centre game

The Cubs started cold shooting, as they missed field goals on their first nine possessions, and the Mainstreeters began the game with a 16-0 run. Freshman Mazie Jurek finally got the Cubs on the board with a free-throw. Freshman Hope Kuechle drove and scored to connect for -Kimball’s first field goal, followed by senior Allie Leither scoring inside and, after another field goal by Jurek, the Cubs gained some confidence and trimmed the lead to 18-7 with seven minutes left in the first half. Jurek, junior Sami Winter, and senior Brookelyn Kuechle, provided the rest of Kimball’s first half scoring, leaving the score, 30-14, at the hiatus. 

In the second half, Jurek continued to lead the scoring, and she finished with a game high 19 points, while Junior Ava Molitor chipped in from the free-throw line, Hope Kuechle connected from the three-point line, and Winter gained confidence scoring in the post. Kimball fought hard to the end and came up short, losing by a final score of 59-43. 

Stats

Brookelyn Kuechle, 6 points, 2 assists; Hope Kuechle, 5 points; Allie Leither, 2 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists; Sami -Winter, 9 points, 11 rebounds; Lily -VonWahlde, solid reserve minutes; Ava Molitor, 2 points, 5 rebounds; Jordyn Theis, 1 assist, 1 rebound; Mazie Jurek, 19 points, 7 rebounds; Team stats: -Kimball made 12-17 free-throws (70%) compared to Sauk Centre’s 6/11 (54%). Total rebounds were even at 33 for each team. Kimball was 14 for 47 on field goals (29.7%) compared to Sauk Centre’s 24 for 59 (40.7%). Turnovers committed were in Sauk Centre’s favor, 14-9.

“After a slow start, I thought we played better as the game went on, and we gained some confidence. We played a really good team tonight, and games like this definitely make us better,” Coach -Jeremy Kuechle offered.

D-C game

Kimball hosted the Dassel-Cokato Chargers on Thursday, Dec. 21. Two minutes in, the game was tied at 3, after senior Brookelyn Kuechle connected on a trey, but D-C scored the next 10 points to take a 13-3 lead. Junior Isabelle Schmitz scored next on a three-pointer, one of her 6 three-pointers in the contest, followed by back-to-back field goals by freshman Mazie Jurek, to cut the lead to 13-10. After a couple of Chargers field goals, Jurek scored Kimball’s next 10 points, playing superbly inside; and with Schmitz’ second three-pointer with 5 seconds to play in the first half, the Cubs trailed by only one point, 24-23 at the break. 

After junior Sami Winter scored a field goal to make it 33-27 Chargers, the Cubs went cold, for about eight minutes without scoring, until junior Ava Molitor dropped a free-throw; but the Cubs found themselves trailing by a score of 47-28, with five minutes to play. Isabelle Schmitz caught fire and busted the Chargers’ 2-3 zone all by herself. She made four more three-pointers in the game’s final five minutes, but it was too -little too late as the Cubs fell to the Chargers by a final tally of 54-40.

Stats

Brookelyn Kuechle, 3 points, 8 assists; Allie Leither, 2 steals, 6 rebounds; Sami Winter, 2 points, 11 rebounds; Ava Molitor, 1 point, 5 rebounds; Isabelle Schmitz, 18 points, 2 rebounds; Jordyn Theis, 2 rebounds; Mazie Jurek, 16 points, 11 rebounds. Team Stats: D-C was 14 for 14 from the free-throw line, while Kimball was 1 for 4. Kimball committed 25 turnovers. Kimball’s record drops to 2-7 (1-2 in the CMC). 

“We got careless with the ball and had too many turnovers tonight. This D-C team is good, and they will win a lot of games this year. If we can improve on finishing our possessions on scoring chances and reduce our turnovers, we will have better outcomes. But we have played a really tough schedule to start, and we must stay positive and believe in ourselves. We are capable of playing really good basketball for stretches, but we just need to do it more consistently and better results will follow,” said Coach Kuechle.

Kimball’s next games are at EV-W on Tuesday, Jan. 2, and then at Maple Lake on Friday, Jan. 5.