Girls lose to Sidney, but respond with Ogallala win

    Chase County suffered its first loss of the season to Sidney Friday, but responded the next night to defeat Ogallala by an 11-point margin in girls’ action.
    In both games, the Lady Longhorns focused on their man-to-man defense. Coach Mark Bottom was impressed with how his team pressured both squads over the weekend.
    More tough competition awaits Chase County this week.
    After a trip to Sutherland (1-3 record) on Tuesday, Chase County will host Yuma, Colo. tonight (Thursday). Undefeated and state-ranked in Colorado, Yuma comes off a third place finish at state last season and a state volleyball championship this fall.
    Coach Bottom anticipates a tough Yuma team again, which has most of its players back from the 2016 season when they defeated Chase County by a 14-point margin.
    Games start at 4 p.m. with the JV girls in the Longhorn gym. Girls and boys’ varsity will follow.
    After the weekend off, Chase County will travel to Wauneta-Palisade Tuesday next week for their final contest before Christmas.
    The Lady Broncos return to Chase County’s schedule after a few years’ absence. The girls’ varsity team is 4-1 this week, suffering their first loss to Dundy Co. Stratton Saturday.
    With their close proximity, Coach Bottom said it makes sense to have the Lady Broncos back on the schedule.
    “And it’s fun to play them. They’re always a good team and well-coached,” he said.
    The JV girls kick off action in Wauneta at 3 p.m., followed by the JV boys and varsity games (girls first). Wauneta-Palisade has just one gym.
    After Christmas, the team is returning to the Cabela’s Holiday Shootout in Sidney, Dec. 28-30. In their opener, the girls will face Cheyenne (Wyo.) South at 2 p.m. Dec. 28.
Sidney game
    Despite losing to Sidney 39-53, Coach Bottom said he was happy with how his team fought back and how well they played their man-to-man defense.
    Sidney jumped to a 7-0 lead early, and it was hard to make up the deficit later when Chase County trailed by 20 points in the third. However, that deficit was cut to nine with four minutes left in the game.
    “But we just couldn’t get over that hurdle,” Coach Bottom said.
    His team’s zone defense wasn’t effective enough and Sidney shot well, he added. That caused the coach to switch his team to man defense late in the second quarter.
    Chase County’s 20 turnovers didn’t help either, he said.
    From two-point range, Chase County shot 23 percent (7-30), but was fairly effective at the line, hitting 10-15 on free throws (67 percent).
    Beyond the arc, the team recorded five of nine three-point attempts, four from Mallie McNair, who finished with 18 points. Allison Owings was second leading Chase County scorer with seven.
    Ragan Nickless led the team in rebounds with five, all on the defensive boards, and had two steals.
    Bottom said Sidney was an athletic team, and has been ranked in Class B by the Omaha World-Herald.

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