CLARENCE — On paper, it was a mismatch. A 1-win team traveling to a 10-win team for the first round of the 2A Regional tournament should have been an easy win for the 10-win team. It was eventually, but the 1-win Durant Wildcats put a scare into the 10-win North Cedar Knights last Saturday in the first round of postseason play. North Cedar needed a 17-5 run in the final quarter to capture the 16-point, 48-32 win.
The game could not have started any better for Durant. The Wildcats raced out to a 14-3 lead before North Cedar made a field goal. The Wildcats led 8-0 three minutes into the game after two Kamryn Meyer left-handed lay-ups, a Hannah Happ basket in transition and an Amanda Wiese hoop. Later, another Happ bucket and a shot by Lauren Ralfs set the score at 12-1. North Cedar also was cold from the three-point line, missing their first six attempts to go with a 0-9 start from the floor. North Cedar scored their first basket on a Grace Proesch hoop with 1:05 left to play in the quarter.
The second quarter was a near flip in fortunes as North Cedar outscored the Wildcats 18 to 5 to take a halftime lead of four points, 23-19. Darby Hawtrey and Lexi Crist combined to score 14 of the Knights 18 points in the quarter. Hawtrey started a 9-0 Knight run with a bucket 20 seconds into the quarter and later made one of two free throws to tie the game at 14 with 4:46 left before halftime.
Kylie Kay got a basket to go with 4:40 left before halftime to break the tie and end the Knights 9-0 run. Later, Lexi Crist scored eight points on three straight possessions, two three-pointers and a bucket at the first half buzzer to send the Knights to halftime up 23-19.
Each team scored eight points in the third quarter, as North Cedar led by a slim four-point, 31-27 lead after three quarters. North Cedar would pull away from the Wildcats though with a 17-5 fourth-quarter run to go from up four heading to the fourth to winning by 16 by games end.
Durant made 15 field goals in the game but was only 2-for-9 from the free throw line. Kamryn Meyer led Durant in scoring with 10 points and rebounds with 18, recording a double-double. Kylie Kay and Amanda Wiese each had 6 points. Durant got all 32 points from their starting five players. Hannah Happ and Lauren Ralfs each scored five points. Happ led in assists with 4 while Meyer had a team-high 4 steals.
North Cedar made 14 shots from the field, but made 26 trips to the free throw line, making 15 of those tries. The Knights also made five three-pointers in the game.
North Cedar got 31 of their points out of their starting five players. Lexi Crist led North Cedar in scoring with a game-high 17 points and 7 rebounds off the bench. She was 6-for-16 from the field including making all five of the Knights three-point attempts. Tessa Fields also reached double figures in the game, scoring 10 points. Darby Hawtrey scored 9 points and had 7 rebounds. Fields had 5 assists and Nicole Sander had 7 steals to lead North Cedar.
Durant ends the 2017-18 season with a record of 1-21. The Wildcats will say goodbye to seniors Amanda Wiese (4.2 ppg, 121 rebounds), Kaitlyn Wiese (0.1 ppg), Lauren Ralfs (5.1 ppg 86 rebounds), Brittany Kahl (0.1 ppg) and Emily Seligman (7 made 3’s, 1.9 ppg, 27 rebounds).
The Knights evened their record to the .500-mark at 11 wins and 11 losses. The Knights will play #13 Bellevue at Bellevue Tuesday night, February 12. The Comets beat North Cedar by eight points in Bellevue in mid-December and by only three points last month in Clarence, 38-35. The Comets are led by three players scoring in double figures in Camryn Reeg (12.7 ppg), Giana Michels (12.0 ppg) and Emma Kelchen (10.9 ppg).
The Knights rebounded well against the Comets in both games. Lexi Crist scored 16 against the Comets in the first game and Darby Hawtrey averaged 10 points and 13.5 rebounds in both games against Bellevue.
North Cedar 48, Durant 32
Class 2A Regional
At Clarence
1 2 3 4 Final
Durant 14 5 8 5 32
North Cedar 5 18 8 17 48
DURANT (32): Hannah Happ (g) 2-6 1-2 5, Kamryn Meyer (f) 5-10 0-5 10, Kylie Kay (g) 3-9 0-0 6, Amanda Wiese (f) 3-6 0-0 6, Lauren Ralfs (f) 2-8 1-2 5, Kira Schult 0-0 0-0 0, Claire Paulsen 0-1 0-0 0, Annie Taylor 0-2 0-0 0, Kaitlyn Wiese 0-0 0-0 0, Brittany Kahl 0-0 0-0 0, Emily Seligman 0-2 0-0 0. Totals: 15-46 2-9 32.
NORTH CEDAR (48): Tessa Fields (g) 2-6 6-10 10, Grace Proesch (g) 2-5 4-4 8, Darby Hawtrey (f) 3-7 3-5 9, Nicole Sander (g) 1-11 0-2 2, Leah Crock (f) 0-6 2-4 2, Lexi Crist 6-16 0-1 17, Kayla Syring 0-1 0-0 0, Kayla Sander 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 14-52 15-26 48.
3-Pt. FG: Durant 0-4 (Seligman 0-2, Happ 0-1, Paulsen 0-1), NC 5-21 (Crist 5-13, N. Sander 0-7, Hawtrey 0-1). Rebounds: Durant 32 (Meyer 18, A. Wiese 5, Ralfs 3, Happ 2, Schult 2, Kay 2), NC 32 (Hawtrey 7, Crist 7, N. Sander 6, Crock 6, Fields 3, Proesch 1, Syring 1, K. Sander 1). Assists: Durant 8 (Happ 4, Meyer 2, Kay 1, Ralfs 1), NC 14 (Fields 5, Crock 3, N. Sander 3, Proesch 2, Hawtrey 1). Steals: Durant 7 (Meyer 4, Happ 1, Ralfs 1, Seligman 1), NC 17 (N. Sander 7, Proesch 4, Fields 3, Crist 1, Hawtrey 1, Crock 1). Blocked Shots: Durant 7 (Meyer 5, Schult 1, Taylor 1), NC 5 (Crist 3, Hawtrey 1, N. Sander 1). Total Fouls: Durant 16, NC 11. Fouled Out: Durant none. NC none.
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