O’NEILL — Second verse, same as the first.
For the second time this season, Elgin Public-Pope John easily defeated the Lady Warriors of Neligh-Oakdale.
This time it was in the opening round of the Niobrara Valley Conference Girls Basketball Tournament as EPPJ won 65 to 32.
In December, EPPJ defeated Neligh-Oakdale 55 to 35.
On Saturday, it was another display of how pressure defense leads to scoring opportunities which leads to points.
Coach Randy Eisenhauer’s team (14-4) started slow, but by the end of the first quarter they had grabbed a 17 to 7 lead. Freshman Keyera Eisenhauer came off the bench to score eight points in the quarter including a trey just before the buzzer.
The second quarter started with a basket by Ally Selting, then Kirsten Krebs had back-to-back baskets to help spark a run which saw EPPJ’s lead jump out to 17 points with one minute to go before halftime.
Starting the second half up 34 to 20, EPPJ’s defense limited the Lady Warriors to just two points (Emerson Knust field goal). At the other end of the court, EPPJ blistered the nets for 13 points as six different players scored including freshman Brenna Martinsen to up the lead to 47 to 22.
In the final eight minutes, Martinsen and Ashlynne Charf each had five points to close out the victory.
