Bearcats vs. Birds
By Mark Johnson
KCC 58 – SH 80
The Bearcats made their second trip to East Grand Forks this year to square off with the Sacred Heart Eagles on Monday, Feb. 9. The two teams had played each other in a pre-christmas tournament with the Eagles getting the significant upper hand.
The two teams battled each other fairly evenly over the first 12 minutes of play and the score stood at 20-14 in favor of the Eagles with 6:13 remaining in the first half of play. The floodgates opened up in those last six minutes, however, and the Bearcats found themselves on the wrong side of a 24-7 run that posted a 44-21 advantage for the Eagles at the end of the first half.
KCC responded coming out of the locker room and went on a 9-0 run to start the half to get to within 14 points. The Bearcats could not sustain that momentum and Sacred Heart kept them at arms length for the remainder of the game, and handed the Bearcats an 80-58 loss.
We played a better game against them this time around. The last six minutes of the first half buried us. They are a good basketball team and you can’t let good teams get that far out in front of you. It makes for a very difficult uphill battle to try and close the gap.
Scoring leaders: Kaydence White 29, Greta Kuznia 12, Brenna Turn 6, Hanna Warnke 4, Kasey Waling 3, Afton Lindgren 2, Kami Hanson 2
Rebound leaders: Kaydence White 19
Assist leaders: Hanna Warnke 5
KCC 72 – F-B 61
KCC returned to the floor on Thursday, Feb. 12 in Hallock against the Fertile-Beltrami Falcons. It was an important game for both teams as the end of the season approached and both were in search of picking up the head-to-head tie breaker advantage for playoff seeding.
The Bearcats got off to a 5-0 start and held the advantage for the first 8 minutes of play before the Falcons took a 14-13 lead. The two teams battled back and forth over the next 6 minutes of action; it stayed a single-possession game over that time frame. KCC got a slight advantage at the 3:58 mark and built a 28-22 lead, but those final 4 minutes of the half ended in an 11-7 run by F-B to close the half trailing 35-33.
The second half remained a tightly fought contest as the two teams stayed connected to each other on the scoreboard. The Falcons got the first upperhand of the second half at the 12:58 mark on a big three-point shot that gave them a 46-39 lead. KCC responded quickly and went on a 9-0 run to reclaim the lead at 48-46 and sent a message that they were not going to go away. The battle over the next 8 minutes of play was impressive. Both teams were scratching and clawing for any advantage they could find. The Bearcats converted on 3 possessions in a row to take a 6-point lead with 3:27 left in the game. The Bearcats closed out the game on an 8-3 run and posted a hard-fought 72-61 win over their sub-section opponent.
Those are the types of games that prepare you for tournament play. We had a moment when we trailed by 7 points in the second half that we held our composure and fought our way back to take control of the game.
Scoring leaders: Greta Kuznia 31, Kaydence White 24, Brenna Turn 5, Afton Lindgren 4, Kasey Waling 4, Aubree Pankratz 2, Kami Hanson 2
Rebound leaders: Kaydence White 10, Greta Kuznia 5, Afton Lindgren 4
Assist leaders: Hanna Warnke 7, Kaydence White 4
