Lady Broncos basketball split games

Wauneta-Palisade’s girls basketball team went 1-1 last week after its comeback fell short Friday night.
The Broncos gave up seven first half three pointers against South Platte (3-2) Friday night. WP trailed 10-20 after the first quarter, but answered with its own 20-point quarter. With five players scoring in the first half, including 11 points by GraCee Goings, the Broncos trailed 30-34 at haltime.
WP trailed 38-54 late in the third quarter, but cut the deficit to 42-54 heading into the fourth quarter. Peyton Cox carried much of the offensive load in the second half, scoring 12 of her 20 points in the game’s last 16 minutes. WP had pulled to within six points, 48-54, with five minutes left in the game. Both offenses struggled over the game’s final minutes. The Broncos sent South Platte to the charity stripe where the Knights made all their points in the fourth quarter on 5-10 shooting. WP only attempted eight rebounds in the game.
With their home crowd behind them, the Broncos made a game of it and trailed 54-55 with 17 seconds remaining, but South Platte made just enough free throws to hang on for the win.
Head Coach Matt Cox said WP played a pretty solid, complete game, the Broncos just got outscored from the three-point line.
Overall, the Knights hit 10 of 24 3s on the evening.
“South Platte did a good job skip passing the ball around and we got lost in some rotations and just gave up too many threes,” Cox said.
Izzy Stehno and McKenna Doetker scored eight points apiece for WP and Cheyenne Parrish added seven. Stehno led the Broncos with nine rebounds.
WP won the turnover battle, 12-17.
Saturday the Broncos made the long trip to Sandhills Valley (0-8).
Cox credited his team with creating a lot of turnovers, but added that WP struggled to put the ball in the hoop early in the game, only scoring six points in the first quarter.
Meanwhile, the Broncos’ defense held Sandhills Valley to four points in the first quarter, zero in the second, one in the third and five in the fourth quarter.
WP’s offense came alive in the second quarter when the Broncos scored 18 points.
WP put another 18 points on the board in the third quarter, including three pointers from Parrish, Goings, Kenzie Bardsley and Abigail Greaves.
All 11 Broncos played in the second half.
“We did a good job offensively and got a lot of minutes for a lot of young girls,” Cox said of the 48-10 win.
Tuesday the Broncos beat Dundy County Stratton (1-5) for the second time this season.
Cox said it was another great battle with the Tigers.
“They gave us a lot of difficult looks defensively and got us into some situations we had to work our way through.
WP took a 6-0 lead to start the game, but gave up a 1-7 run to DCS over the final 3:30 of the first quarter.
The teams stayed within a point or two of each other throughout the second quarter with Cox and Stehno each scoring four points over the middle of the quarter. It was the Broncos holding the lead at halftime, 18-16.
The third quarter was the difference in the game as both teams heated up from the field. WP’s lead grew to as many as eight points, 28-20, before the Broncos took their biggest lead of the game, 36-27, right at the end of the quarter. Goings scored nine of her 13 points in the third.
After DCS scored the first six points of the fourth quarter, the Broncos’ lead had shrunk to 36-33 with six minutes left in the game. Parrish and Emma Acton each made a field goal in the fourth quarter and Cox hit 6-8 free throws in the second half to keep the Tigers at bay and give WP a 44-35 win.
Cox said WP knew it had to have some balanced scoring.
“We had some pretty important jumpers by some girls I’ve been waiting on to get in the scoring column,” he added.
Cox also scored 13 points for the Broncos. Doetker scored eight points.
Stehno had a team-high 10 rebounds.
The WP boys team lost two close games last week, 40-44 on Friday to 4-1 South Platte and 33-38 against 5-3 Sandhills Valley Saturday.
Tuesday the Broncos lost to Class D1 #4 DCS (5-1) by the score of 24-64.
Up next
“It’s nice to finish 2023 with a W and the kids get a much deserved break to relax and spend some time with their families,” Cox said.
WP is now off until the new year.
On Jan. 5, the Broncos will head to Hitchcock County. The Falcons’ girls team is 2-5 and the boys team is 3-3.
The following night WP will host Southwest. The SW boys are 2-5 and the Roughrider girls are 3-4.