NELIGH — One word described the Wolfpack girls’ victory over Niobrara-Verdigre Saturday afternoon — Relentless!
In the opening round of the NVC Conference Girls Basketball Tournament, Coach Randy Eisenhauer’s squad crushed the Cougars with 30 first quarter points en route to a 68 to 22 victory.
Niobrara-Verdigre had no answer for the Wolfpack’s offensive onslaught at one end of the court and the defensive pressure applied at the other end of the court.
In a mismatch of epic proportions, Elgin Public-Pope John scored the game’s first 30 points. Heather Bauer and Lydia Behnk dominated inside while the Wolfpack’s perimeter shooters bombed away from three-point range when they weren’t beating the Cougars down the floor for easy layups. Senior Paige Meis had 11 points in the opening quarter, Allyson Wemhoff added seven and Behnk tossed in six.
Emily Parks’ two-pointer with 18 seconds left averted the Cougars having a goose egg on the scoreboard at the end of the first quarter.
The Wolfpack “took their foot off the gas” over the final three quarters or they could have scored 100 points at the pace they were playing in the first eight minutes of the game. In the second quarter, behind balanced scoring from Kaylee Martinsen, Calli Krebs and Wemhoff, the lead grew to 47 to 14 by halftime.
Wolfpack starters played sparingly in the second half and sat the bench for all of the fourth quarter.
Over the course of the final two quarters, the Wolfpack outscored the Cougars 21 to 8. Coming off the bench to score for the Wolfpack were Araceli Palmer, Kirsten Krebs, Marissa Preister, Kayce Kallhoff and Allyson Selting.
Four EPPJ players scored in double figures, led by Meis and Behnk with 13 points apiece, Wemhoff and Krebs each had 10.
The victory boosted the Wolfpack’s record to 14-4 heading into Monday night’s quarter-final game at Ewing.
Wolfpack 68, Lady Cougars 22
Wolfpack…….30 17 16 5 — 68
Cougars………2 12 4 4 — 22
Wolfpack — Marissa Preister 1-1 0-0 2, Araceli Palmer 1-3 2-4 4, Kaylee Martinsen 2-6 0-1 4, Theanna Dunn 0-1 0-0 0, Lydia Behnk 4-11 5-6 13, Calli Krebs 4-6 1-2 10, Paige Meis 5-9 1-3 13, Kirsten Krebs 1-3 0-0 2, Kayce Kallhoff 0-1 1-2 1, Harlie Bode 0-2 0-0 0, Allyson Wemhoff 4-8 1-2 10, Sklylar Reestman 0-1 0-0 0, Heather Bauer 4-7 0-2 8, Allyson Selting 0-3 1-2 1. Team totals: 26-62 12-25 68. Three-point shots — Wolfpack 4-14 (Allyson Wemhoff 1, Paige Meis 2, Calli Krebs 1)
Cougars team totals: 10-25 0-2 22. Three-point shots — Cougars 2-5.
Team statistics: Rebounds — Wolfpack 34 (Lydia Behnk 11, Paige Meis 6), Cougars 21. Assists — Wolfpack 23 (Allyson Wemhoff 7, Calli Krebs 5), Cougars 6. Steals — Wolfpack 31 (Allyson Wemhoff 6, Araceli Palmer 5, Paige Meis 5), Cougars 3. Turnovers — Wolfpack 10, Cougars 39
