By: Con Marshall
Gothenburg won both championships with room to spare Wednesday at the Chadron Holiday Basketball Tournament.
The Lady Swedes jumped out to a 43-20 halftime lead and defeated Bridgeport 84-43 to win their championship while the Gothenburg boys led by just 24-23 at intermission, but outscored Bridgeport 37-23 in the second half and won that title 61-46.
Eleven players scored for the Gothenburg girls, led by Halsey Thomalla with 22 points, Zoe Beveridge with 19 and Lindly Anderson with 13. Olivia Brown paced Bridgeport with 20 points and Elle Schluterbusch added 11.
The Gothenburg boys had balanced scoring. Axel Jorgenson and Bryson Neels each had 12 points, Braden Ehlers 11 and Landen Mroczek 10.
Nik Weibert, who scored just three points in the first two games of the tournament, got Bridgeport off to blazing start Wednesday by tallying the game’s first 11 points by sinking a trio of 3-pointers and a putback. He seldom shot after that, but finished with a team-high 14 points. Logan Levick added 11 for the Bulldogs.
Both Gothenburg teams are now 8-1 for the season while the Bridgeport girls are 10-1 and the boys are 8-2.
Valentine teams earned both thirds in the tournament standings. The girls led 26-19 at halftime, were ahead by as many as 14 points in the second half and held off a late charge by Chadron to edge the Cardinals 49-45. Aiden Hand had 16 points, Paige Sprenger 14 and Devahney Belville 12 for Valentine. Rylan Barry was Chadron’s only double figure scorer with 14 points.
The Badgers’ boys claimed their third by defeating Chase County 71-56 led by Dom Beebout with 19 points and Isaac Cronin and Trystan Beebout with 14 apiece. Chase County was paced by Aaron Cervantes with 17 points and Lukes Fries with 10.
The Lady Badgers are now 7-2 and the boys are 6-1.
Gering finished fifth in the tournament’s final team standings by winning both of their consolation bracket games Wednesday. The Bulldogs’ girls led by 16 points by Jacey Cochran and 15 by Jacelyn Brown edged Chase County 58-54 and the boys topped Niobrara County from Lusk, Wyo., 57-48 with Ryland Ray scoring 16 points and Max Judy 15 to lead the Bulldogs,
The Chase County girls got 15 points from both Mia Fries and Alex Reeves while Avery Beemer chipped in 13. Brady Swisher’s 16 points led Niobrara County boys and Corbin Matthews added 11.
With Kylee Ellerton scoring 19 points the Custer, S.D., girls won that game to determine seventh place by downing Niobrara County 47-35. Chadron finished seventh on the boys’ backet by edging Custer 46-43. Derek Bissonette had 16 points and Tobin Landen 12 for the winning Cardinals.
Jaci Vetter’s 10 points led the Niobrara County girls and Brady Virtue with 13 points was Custer’s scoring leader in that seventh place contest.