NIOBRARA — Pumping in a career-high 29 points, Wolfpack junior Braelyn Martinsen led Elgin Public-Pope John to a place they have never been before.
The Wolfpack defeated Santee 67 to 43 to claim their first-ever championship trophy from the Niobrara Valley Conference girls basketball tournament.
Capping a dominating tournament performance, the Wolfpack won their third game in a row in convincing fashion – jumping out to a 15-point lead after one quarter and denying the Warriors any opportunity to get back into the game.
Coach Randy Eisenhauer said going into the game Santee was a very ‘quick’ team. However, in that, he saw a weakness which the Wolfpack could exploit.
Time and time again the Wolfpack beat the Warriors down the court and, when they did, they nearly always scored.
Martinsen scored the team’s first 11 points of the game as EPPJ capitalized on Warrior turnovers.
The Wolfpack then got points from Elizabeth Moser, Jael Lammers and the Zwingman sisters to lead 24 to nine after the first quarter.
The Warriors tried to answer back but it was to no avail. It seemed that every time Santee would score, EPPJ answered right back. Mady Kurpgeweit was able to work inside for scoring chances as she finished with six points in the quarter. Martinsen had five as did Kayton Zwingman as EPPJ lead 40 to 22 at halftime. The outcome was no longer in doubt, the only question was how big the margin of victory would be. EPPJ outscored the Warriors 27 to 22 to close out the game.
Aside from Martinsen, Kurpgeweit finished with 14 points and Zwingman had 11. Altogether, eight Wolfpack players scored in the game.
Eisenhauer said he wasn’t aware that Saturday’s victory would be a championship first for the Wolfpack until the players researched it prior to the game.
He said the championship has been a long time coming as the Wolfpack have been in the championship game many times before only to be denied, adding that the Wolfpack’s success on this night was built by many great players who played in past year.
The victory boosted EPPJ’s record to 16-5 heading into the final week of the regular season.
