Hartington Cedar Catholic concluded the fall sports season as the Class C2 runner-up in the state volleyball tournament, and many of those same athletes are members of the Trojan basketball program that received a #8 preseason rating in the Omaha World-Herald.
Host Cedar Catholic lived up to its billing and proved to be a tough season-opening road test for Boone Central/Newman Grove, defeating the Cardinals 52-43 Friday at Hartington.
Although BCNG fought back from a sluggish start and pushed the Trojans throughout the contest, Cedar Catholic was able to be the more efficient team offensively and outscored the Cardinals 33-25 over the final two quarters.
Cedar Catholic raced to a 9-2 lead early before BCNG fought back with an 8-0 second-quarter run to take a 16-13 advantage. The Trojans edged ahead 19-18 at halftime, then outscored BCNG 12-8 in the third period and 21-17 in the final stanza.
“We started the season against a state-rated, athletic Cedar Catholic team. Our girls were prepared and ready for a great challenge,” said Card Coach Andy Imus. “Cedar Catholic played a full-court man-to-man defense that sped up our tempo to a pace we were not necessarily comfortable playing at. The girls continued to battle and gained some confidence running our full-court press.
“We were able to turn them over – we just had difficulty turning those turnovers into points. We were also out of position defensively at times and, against a good team, they will make you pay. We turned Cedar Catholic over 29 times, but could not muster more points than we did. We need to convert those extra opportunities into points.”
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