EICHELBERGER HAS BIG DOUBLE-DOUBLE

By William

MOUNDRIDGE – Offensive struggles in the first and third quarters may have cost the Moundridge girls basketball team as they lost on Tuesday in the Class 2A quarterfinals to Garden Plain, 48-39, ending their shot at a state championship run.

The Lady Wildcats could only manage three points in the first quarter and trailed 10-3 by the end of it before bouncing back and trimming the deficit down to just three points at 20-17 heading into the halftime break.

Once again Garden Plain pushed out ahead in the third quarter by outscoring Moundridge 14-8 and taking a nine-point lead into the final eight minutes of play where the Lady Wildcats again trimmed the lead down to five late before having to foul and give Garden Plain the chance to make free throws and gain the nine-point victory over the Lady Wildcats.

“The Lady Wildcat’s lost a hard fought first round 2A state game against a physical Garden Plain team,” explained Moundridge head coach Vicky Kessler. “We really struggled the first quarter with their physicality and adjusting to it on the offensive end. In the second quarter we did a much better job attacking the basket and getting them in foul trouble. They came out and hit some back-to-back baskets to start the third quarter and while we were able to claw our way back to within five with a minute and a half left in the game, they hit all four free throws.”

Two big stat marks that gave Garden Plain the favor came with their bench play as their bench outscored the Moundridge bench 12-2 and in turnover points where Garden Plain had a 12-0 advantage.

The Lady Wildcats were led by Kate Eichelberger who left it all on the court as she had a monster game with 16 points while grabbing 13 rebounds and blocking a pair of shots. Kourtney Kaufman closed out her Wildcat career with nine points.

Coach Kessler concluded her post-game reflections by talking about the team and the seniors as she added, “This team had grit. They left it all on the floor and I am so proud of their effort. We had five seniors that gave four years to Moundridge basketball and we will miss Alea Durst, Erin Durst, Kenzie Elmore, Kourtney Kaufman and Myiah Logue. As a coach, I was blessed by this group of young ladies and what that meant to the Lady Wildcat program.”

The Lady Wildcats close out the season with a solid 18-6 record while Garden Plain will take their 17-5 mark into the Class 2A semi-final battle with top seed Sterling who is 22-1. The other Class 2A semi-final battle will be between Blue Rapids/Valley Heights (21-1) and Pittsburgh-St. Mary’s Colgan (18-3).

Garden Plain at MOUNDRIDGE LADY WILDCATS

SCORING:                 Q1      Q2      Q3      Q4      FINAL

Garden Plain            10       10       14       14       48

LADY WILDCATS      3          14       8          14       39

Garden Plain Team Stats: FG 18-56; 3PT 2-14; FT 10-13; AST 6; RBS 38; TO 15; STL 13; BLK 0; FLS 19.

MOUNDRIDGE LADY WILDCATS TEAM STATS: FG 11-39; 3PT 1-9; FT 16-23; AST 2; RBS 32; TO 18; STL 6; BLK 2; FLS 13.

MOUNDRIDGE LADY WILDCATS INDIVIDUAL STAT LEADERS:

Scoring (39): Kate Eichelberger – 16; Kourtney Kaufman – 9; Erin Durst – 6; Kindall Elmore – 4; Emily Durst – 2; Aubree Durst 2.

3-Pointers Made (1): Kaufman – 1.

Assists (2): Er. Durst, Elmore – 1.

Rebounds (32): Eichelberger – 13; Elmore – 7; Er. Durst – 4; Em. Durst, Kaufman – 3.

Steals (6): Er. Durst 5; Em. Durst – 1.

Blocked Shots (2): Eichelberger – 2.

{Moundridge Wildcat Postings are SPONSORED by CrossDove Creations}