Lady Broncos end regular season with two wins, rank third for districts

The Lady Broncos’ regular season came to a close last week and they are now looking towards the District Tournament beginning on Feb. 6 in Reardan.

The team started the week with a tough game on the road versus the Colfax Lady Bulldogs on Tuesday, Jan. 26.

Head Coach Gary Kelly reiterated what a tough environment the Colfax gym is due to the intensity the fans provide for their team.

“It was a frustrating game, it is really tough to play down there and hasn’t really ever gone well,” Kelly explained.

The Lady Broncos did their best to stay in the game but fell to Colfax 31-47.

The team hung in during the first half with a score of 18-24. The third quarter was where their deficit became more pronounced, with only two points being put up for the team compared to the Lady Bulldogs’ 11.

Tessa Jantz led in scoring with 17 points. Holly Nygren sank two three-point shots, followed by Peyton Curtis with five points. Tommi Swannack had two points and Madison Harder rounded out the scoring with one.

The team’s biggest downfall of the night came from 20 forced turnovers by Colfax.

“We didn’t have enough offense to get back into the game after the third quarter but we took some good things out of the loss and were able to make some adjustments,” Kelly said.

Kelly said the team is ready to face Colfax again in districts if they have to, and will enjoy playing on a neutral court. The team will be more prepared to handle their full court press and make the necessary adjustments.

The team then took on the Liberty Lady Lancers at home in Gilson Gym on Friday, Jan. 29, for their last league game of the season.

Kelly explained, “This game wasn’t very meaningful, we knew going in we had secured at least a third place seat in Districts. We just wanted to finish strong and give other players minutes.”

The Lady Broncos’ goal going into the game was to finish their league play out strong, which they were able to accomplish with a 48-42 win.

Swannack sat this game out to rest her ankle in preparation for post-season play.

“Offensively we were slowed up a bit without Tommi (Swannack) who is one of our top scorers. We lost her offense plus what she does on defense for us,” Kelly said.

Jantz had a huge game for the team. Not only did she score 25 points, but she also shot a perfect 11 for 11 from the free throw line.

Curtis added 10 additional points to the score followed by Felicia Ziemer with six. Lacey Miller was able to put up five points and Harder rounded out the team’s scoring with two.

The team limited their turnovers to just 10, which showed their improvement from the previous game.

“I thought we played great, the girls got great experience and everyone stepped up and made sure it was a good all around game for us,” Kelly said.

The first half showed a close game with a 26-25 lead by the Lady Lancers. After the half the Lady Broncos showed their offensive strength by putting up 16 points and their defensive strength by holding Liberty to just four points.

In the fourth quarter Liberty attempted a comeback scoring 12 points to the Lady Broncos’ seven, but ultimately came up short.

The following night was Senior Night for the Lady Broncos, the stands were packed and Gilson Gym was full of excitement.

The team faced the Dayton Lady Bulldogs who are the number one team in District Nine.

Kelly said they wanted to take care of quite a few things.

“We wanted to finish the season strong, get our seniors out there and make sure they got the recognition they deserve for all their hard work,” Kelly explained.

Senior Selena Lamar-Paslay started the game and got the crowd involved, giving the team a boost.

Nygren, another senior, got the offense started for the team by putting up all seven of the Lady Broncos’ first quarter points.

By half, the Lady Broncos were up 19-8 and had a lead most of the game.

“We were really fortunate to have a lot of players contribute to our win that night,” Kelly said.

Dayton made a run in the second half making 28 points to the Lady Broncos 20 bringing the score to 39-36 with the Lady Broncos out front.

At the buzzer a Dayton athlete attempted a three to tie the game and was immediately shut down with a block from Harder.

Curtis led the team in this game with 16 points followed by Nygren with eight. Harder added another six and Jantz added five. Ziemer and Miller rounded out the scoring with two points each.

“It was a great way to finish the regular season. We have accomplished all of our on court and off court goals. No matter how the season ends I am proud of what we did,” Kelly stated.

The team was hard to predict in the beginning, they had not practiced with Kelly at all until the beginning of the season.

Most of the team was coming off the volleyball season and carried over frustrations from this. The Lady Broncos were able to get on the court and work as a team for the entire season.

The Lady Broncos earned a lot of good wins during the season. They lost only five games, four of which were league games, and these losses were never by much.

The team has proved they can play with competitiveness and now have the opportunity to show this off in post-season play.

The Lady Broncos have earned the number three seed in the upcoming District Tournament, which begins on Feb. 6 in Reardan and continues on Feb. 8, 10 and 12.

The Lady Broncos will take on Northwest Christian at 5 p.m. in the Main Gym at Reardan High School.

When the two teams met earlier in the season the Lady Broncos took the win with a score of 56-46.

Northwest Christian is currently ranked second in the North half of the Northeast 2B league.

Kelly said, “The game is very winnable but will be a challenging opening game.”

Despite this the team is looking forward to the match up, they feel confident and know it is up to them to play their game and take care of business on the court.