NIOBRARA — Saint Mary’s took away the Wolfpack’s outside game and pulled away to claim a 49 to 34 victory in the girls championship game of the Niobrara Valley Conference.
Playing Saturday evening, the Cardinals shut down the Wolfpack’s attack outside the three-point arc as EPPJ failed to make a trey the entire game.
In a fast-paced game, EPPJ kept pace with St. Mary’s in the early going. Sophomore Mady Kurpgeweit’s basket with under a minute to play gave EPPJ the lead 16 to 14.
Then, a trey by Annabelle Barlow got the Cardinals going. They put together an eight to four run for a 27 to 20 lead late in the quarter. Unable to score outside, EPPJ kept working the ball to Kurpgeweit who delivered inside. She scored all six of the Wolfpack’s second quarter points as they trailed 29 to 22.
The third quarter started with an 8-0 run by the Cardinals as Adyson Petersen and Pyper Ickes both drained treys to lead 37 to 22.
The Wolfpack then began to cut into the Cardinals lead. Kayton Zwingman and Kate Furstenau scored followed by a coast-to-coast bucket by Kurpgeweit to cut the lead to just 10 points, 37 to 27. The Wolfpack would cut the lead to eight points by the end of the quarter.
…see more at this week’s Elgin Review.
