N-O Girls, Boys Add 3 Losses In Tough Holiday Tourney

The Neligh-Oakdale girls and boys teams each dropped three games in three days during the highly competitive Shootout on the Elkhorn Holiday Basketball Tournament in Wisner.

The girls and boys teams both started the tourney by playing the host teams on Thursday. The Wisner-Pilger teams defended their home court and handed the Warriors their first losses of the tournament.

Wisner-Pilger came out firing in the girls game and jumped out to a 21-9 first quarter lead over the Lady Warriors. Neligh-Oakdale struggled to get an offense going and were unable to keep up. They eventually fell, 69-24.

Scoring for N-O were Paige Furstenau with 6, Rachel Higgins and Brooke Frey each with 4, Haley Kerkman 3, and Bailey Frey and Trinity Kurpgeweit each with 2. Claire Whitesel added 4 assists.

W-P   21   15   24    9    69
N-O     9     4     5    6    24

Unfortunately for the Warriors, the boys game was much of the same as Wisner-Pilger led 18-7 after one quarter and 40-14 at the half. The Gators continued to keep the Warriors at bay in the second half and won 66-28.

Scoring for the Warriors were Hunter Charf and Austin Rice with 10 each, Cole Belitz with 4, and Nate Buck and Garret Belitz with 2 each. Rice grabbed 8 rebounds in the contest.

W-P   18   22   14   12   66
N-O     7     7     4   10   28

On Friday, the Lady Warriors fell to Winnebago, 71-53, while the boys dropped a 57-41 game to Battle Creek, one of the top teams in Class C2.

The first quarter of the girls game ended in a tie, 13-13, but Winnebago had other plans and scored 30 points in the second quarter to lead 43-31 at the break. There were 36 fouls between the two teams in the first half in an extremely physical game. Neligh-Oakdale couldn't overcome the scoring deficit in the last half and fell to Winnebago, 71-53.

Trinity Kurpgeweit led the Lady Warriors with a double-double, 15 points and 10 rebounds, followed by Paige Furstenau with 14 points, 9 rebounds and 3 assists. Other scorers were Bailey Frey and Jaclynn Hixson with 6, Claire Whitesel 5, Brooke Frey 4, Haley Kerkman 2, and Kenzi Tschirren 1. Kerkman also swiped 4 steals in the matchup.

Winn   13   30   15   13   71
N-O     13   18    8   14   53

In the boys game, Battle Creek got off to a quick start, taking a 19-7 first quarter lead. The Warriors battled back, but couldn't close the gap, falling 57-41

Cole Belitz led the Warriors with 14 points, 4 assists and 2 steals, followed by Austin Rice with 10 points and 8 rebounds. Other scorers were Julien Hearn 8, Nate Buck 5 and Hunter Charf 4.

N-O   7   14    9    11   41
BC    19  10  14   14   57

On Saturday, the boys and girls teams both faced Wakefield in their final games of the holiday tournament. The Lady Warriors were defeated, 50-39, and the boys were edged out, 57-46.

The girls teams both got off to a slow start, finishing the first quarter with N-O leading just 4-3. Wakefield came to life in the second and took the lead that they would never relinquish.

Trinity Kurpgeweit again led the team with 10 points and 8 rebounds, followed by Paige Furstenau with 8, Brooke Frey 7, Rachel Higgins and Haley Kerkman 4 each, Bailey Frey 3, Claire Whitesel 2 and Jaclynn Hixson 1. Furstenau also added 3 assists.

N-O    4    7   13   15   39
Wake  3  13   14   20   50

In the boys contest, the Warriors were within reach the entire game, down by just 3 at the end of the first and trailing by 6 at the half. N-O just couldn't cut down the lead and the boys eventually dropped their final game of the tourney.

Cole Belitz again led the way for the Warriors putting up 20 points, 5 assists and 3 steals, followed by Austin Rice with 9 points and 10 rebounds, and Nate Buck with 6 points, 11 rebounds and 3 steals. Other scorers were Julien Hearn with 5, Hunter Charf 4 and Tucker Knust 2.

Wake    12    13   15   17   57
N-O         9   10   12   15   46

The Neligh-Oakdale girls and boys will be back in action on Friday, January 5 when they travel to Plainview.