N-O Girls, Boys Split First Rounds Of Holiday Tournament

Updated Bracket

The Neligh-Oakdale girls and boys basketball teams went 1-1 in their first rounds of the holiday tournament on Tuesday night.

Both teams faced host Wisner-Pilger in their first matchups of the "Shoot-Out on the Elkhorn" tourney in Wisner with the girls falling, 44-27, and the boys edging out their opponent, 62-60.

The Warrior teams will both play Ponca in the second round today with the girls tipping off at 6 p.m. and the boys at 7:45 p.m. The girls will play in the south gym and the boys will follow in the north gym.

On Thursday, the girls will play at 10 a.m. and the boys will play at 2:30 p.m. 

The Lady Warriors got off to a sluggish start against Wisner-Pilger, giving the host team a 15-2 advantage after one quarter of play. Buckets from Kinsley Klabenes, Bailey Frey, Danae Smith and Jayda Chance in the second quarter put them within 12 at the half. The Gators continued to extend their lead in the second half for the 44-27 win. Klabenes led N-O with 13, followed by Frey with 5; Chance and Smith 4; and Heather Pellatz 1.

The boys game got off to a slow start as well, with Wisner-Pilger leading 9-7 at the end of the first quarter and 24-19 at the half. But the Warriors came out firing after halftime. The nets were blazing in the third as Alex Kerkman hit a jumper and two treys; Grant White drained three 3-pointers and a two; and Clayton Anderson and Chris Bentley each added two to take over the lead, 42-31, heading into the final quarter. Tyson Belitz, White, Kerkman, and Bentley finished up the scoring in the fourth for a 62-60 victory. White led the Warriors with 29 points, folllowed by Kerkman with 15; Anderson 7; Belitz 5; and Bentley and Austin Rice with 3 each.