Concordia 57 Abilene Cowgirls 52
The Abilene Cowgirls season came to an end Wednesday night at Concordia High School, in the opening round of Sub-State. It was the rubber match between the two NCKL rivals. Concordia defeated Abilene 43-36 in overtime on December 18. The Cowgirls then put together their best performance of the season last Thursday in a 35-21 victory over the Lady Panthers.
Abilene isn’t known for fast starts to games but jumped out to a 12-3 lead in the opening quarter. Concordia would close the quarter on a 4-0 run to make the score 12-7. In all, Concordia put together a 15-2 run, to take a 18-14 lead, with 2:06 to play in the first half. The run was capped on a basket by Senior, Chloe Conway. The Cowgirls closed the half with 4 straight points and the two teams were tied at 18 at the break.
Abilene and Concordia have both struggled offensively this season but the two schools erupted for 37 combined points in the third quarter. The Lady Panthers outscored the Cowgirls 21-16 in the quarter. Concordia got up by as many as 11 points at 39-28, on a basket by Freshman, Carlie Carlgren with 1:25 to play in the third quarter. Abilene closed the quarter on a 6-0 run and trailed 39-34, as the two teams entered the fourth.
Senior, Abi Lillard kept the Cowgirls in the game. She scored 11 of her career-high 23 points in the third quarter. In the fourth, she got help from her teammates. Junior, Jenna Hayes, capped a 10-0 Cowgirl run, with a three-pointer with 4:54 to play in the game, to give Abilene a 46-43 lead. Hayes scored 8 of her 11 points in the final quarter.
Concordia would have their own heroics. Senior, Kendal Reynolds, the Lady Panthers leading scorer on the season at 9.3 ppg, was held to 3 points last Thursday in loss at Abilene. Wednesday night, she poured in a team-high 20 points. She finished with 9 points in the fourth quarter and she sealed the game with a three-pointer with 1:03 to play which gave the Concordia the lead for good at 53-50.
It was the final game final game for three Abilene Seniors: Reagan Ditto, Abi Lillard and Allison Liby. The Cowgirls finished the season 5-14, 3-7 in the NCKL. Concordia improved to 9-12, 3-7 with the victory. Clay Center will host Concordia at 3 PM, Saturday. The Lady Tigers improved to 20-0 with a 53-11 victory over Chapman Wednesday.
