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Girls Basketball: Exira dominates EHK to push ahead to 11-0
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No. 4 ranked Vikettes will host Treynor Saturday afternoon in non-conference showdown
By Drew Herron
NT Sports Editor
ELK HORN— For a team as transcendent as the Exira girls have been this decade, collecting another Rolling Hills Conference win has become customary.
Likewise for Friday night’s 68-32 drubbing of Elk Horn-Kimballton, a victory that pushes the Vikettes’ record this season to 11-0 and keeps them on firm footing to lock up their eighth straight RHC title.
In most cases, a 36-point victory in which your team’s bench sees extensive playing time offers a surplus of positives to point at. But for Exira, who is looking to return to the state tournament in the weeks to come, expectations are high and scrutiny aplenty.
“We came out awful sluggish tonight,” Exira coach Tom Petersen said afterwards. “We want to come out focused and ready to go…tonight, we just weren’t ready. We weren’t mentally prepared for this game.”
Mentally prepared or not, Exira certainly got the job done.
Junior center Hallie Christofferson led all scorers with 28 points and wing Ann Walker chipped in 15 (all of them in the first half) as the Vikettes seized control for good about midway through the opening quarter and wore down the inexperienced EHK squad.
Walker’s play, particularly in the first two quarters, was the spark Exira needed says Tom Petersen.
“Ann Walker played the best game she’s played all year long,” he said. “She was the catalyst…she drilled a couple 3-pointers in a row and you could see it just lifted us all up.”
After a rocky first quarter where Exira trailed for the first time in a long time (4-2), the Vikettes stabilized to close out the opening frame with a 21-7 lead before tearing the game open with a 19-0 run to start the second.
Pushing their lead to 40-9 at one point before EHK scored their first points of the second quarter with 2:50 remaining, Exira had the game in hand from there on out.
Exira out-pressured and out-rebounded EHK for the better part of four quarters, owning the glass at both ends and forcing turnovers as the Lady Danes struggled to move the ball up court.
“That’s a great team over there,” EHK coach Tony Petersen says. “Yea, Christofferson stands out, but that’s a well-rounded team and there’s a reason they’re 11-0. It’s going to take a very special kind of team to beat them.”
Today Treynor comes to Exira for a Saturday afternoon clash and a rematch from Nov. 29’s meeting where the Vikettes hammered Treynor 76-48 in their second official game of the season.
Petersen expects Treynor will come back looking for blood after the Vikettes have dealt the Cardinals their only loss of the season as Exira bombed away from beyond the arc with 11 3-pointers on the night.
“It’s going to be extremely difficult because they’re playing great basketball right now,” Petersen says. “If we play like we did here, we’re going to be in for a long afternoon.”
Game Scoring (01/09):
Exira (11-0): Hallie Christofferson 28, Ann Walker 15, Molly Boylan 7, Kasie Simpson 6, Chelsea Nelson 4, Jordan Gearheart 3, Lacey Heinrichs 3, Courtney Peppers 2
EHK (2-5): Maria Santisteban 16, Kelli Nielsen 7, Kayla Hogberg 4, Danielle Albert 4, Witni Steen 1
Likewise for Friday night’s 68-32 drubbing of Elk Horn-Kimballton, a victory that pushes the Vikettes’ record this season to 11-0 and keeps them on firm footing to lock up their eighth straight RHC title.
In most cases, a 36-point victory in which your team’s bench sees extensive playing time offers a surplus of positives to point at. But for Exira, who is looking to return to the state tournament in the weeks to come, expectations are high and scrutiny aplenty.
“We came out awful sluggish tonight,” Exira coach Tom Petersen said afterwards. “We want to come out focused and ready to go…tonight, we just weren’t ready. We weren’t mentally prepared for this game.”
Mentally prepared or not, Exira certainly got the job done.
Junior center Hallie Christofferson led all scorers with 28 points and wing Ann Walker chipped in 15 (all of them in the first half) as the Vikettes seized control for good about midway through the opening quarter and wore down the inexperienced EHK squad.
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“Ann Walker played the best game she’s played all year long,” he said. “She was the catalyst…she drilled a couple 3-pointers in a row and you could see it just lifted us all up.”
After a rocky first quarter where Exira trailed for the first time in a long time (4-2), the Vikettes stabilized to close out the opening frame with a 21-7 lead before tearing the game open with a 19-0 run to start the second.
Pushing their lead to 40-9 at one point before EHK scored their first points of the second quarter with 2:50 remaining, Exira had the game in hand from there on out.
Exira out-pressured and out-rebounded EHK for the better part of four quarters, owning the glass at both ends and forcing turnovers as the Lady Danes struggled to move the ball up court.
“That’s a great team over there,” EHK coach Tony Petersen says. “Yea, Christofferson stands out, but that’s a well-rounded team and there’s a reason they’re 11-0. It’s going to take a very special kind of team to beat them.”
Today Treynor comes to Exira for a Saturday afternoon clash and a rematch from Nov. 29’s meeting where the Vikettes hammered Treynor 76-48 in their second official game of the season.
Petersen expects Treynor will come back looking for blood after the Vikettes have dealt the Cardinals their only loss of the season as Exira bombed away from beyond the arc with 11 3-pointers on the night.
“It’s going to be extremely difficult because they’re playing great basketball right now,” Petersen says. “If we play like we did here, we’re going to be in for a long afternoon.”
Game Scoring (01/09):
Exira (11-0): Hallie Christofferson 28, Ann Walker 15, Molly Boylan 7, Kasie Simpson 6, Chelsea Nelson 4, Jordan Gearheart 3, Lacey Heinrichs 3, Courtney Peppers 2
EHK (2-5): Maria Santisteban 16, Kelli Nielsen 7, Kayla Hogberg 4, Danielle Albert 4, Witni Steen 1
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| Boys Basketball: Danes display too much firepower for Exira to stop |
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