By Justin Sharp
With a successful regular season coming to an end, finishing out their slate 17-4, the Silver Lake Lady Mustangs were looking to continue their postseason success from the year prior. A Mustang versus Mustang matchup in Red Cloud was set to tip off, with Silver Lake facing the 16-5 McCool Junction Mustangs in the first round of Sub-District play. The game tipped off, and as expected, it was physical to say the least. Silver Lake came out swinging, focusing on inside-out looks, and knocking down a couple of 3-balls to give them a decently comfortable lead by 4 at the end of the 1st quarter.
Senior Sophie Schmidt, along with sophomore Libby Soucek, kept the offense rolling, using the best of their abilities, shooting from behind the arc, knocking down 2 threes each. Halftime rolled around, and Silver Lake took another convincing lead into the break, up by 10 at 28-18. “I thought for the first half we did a good job of handling their pressure. We limited our turnovers, and we had strong offensive possessions where we were being patient and waiting for a good shot,” exclaimed Head Coach Kate Sinsel, pleased with the Mustangs’ response to McCool Junction’s aggressive pace of play. For the rest of the 3rd quarter, key players including sophomore Brooklyn Himmelberg, senior Makenna Karr, and senior Karah Bartels kept playing their roles, contributing enough to send Silver Lake into the 4th quarter, on the verge of a Sub-District victory, with a 43-28 lead.
A 15-point advantage, 4th quarter lead quickly turned into a nightmare for Silver Lake. “In the final quarter, I think we put the cruise control on. We were trying not to lose rather than trying to win. We struggled to get anything going on the offensive end, and they found some areas of our defense to target,” Coach Sinsel said following that 4th quarter. McCool Junction’s quiet offense finally came alive and outscored Silver Lake by 17 in the final quarter of the contest. Schmidt and Soucek’s 13-point performance, along with Himmelberg’s 8 points on 38% shooting, wasn’t enough as Silver Lake’s defense let up, and ended their Sub-District play with a 45-47, disappointing 2-point loss against the McCool Junction Mustangs. Coach Sinsel knew they had stuff to work on, hoping for a Wild Card berth, “For one, we need to play four full quarters of basketball. We know that every team from here on out will be gunning for a win, and that they all are talented, and we need to make sure that we have that mentality throughout the entire game. Additionally, we really need to focus on our free throws and being able to hit them, not just at intense moments of the game, but throughout the game. We know we will be outsized in almost every match-up, so we have been working on how to adjust to the height discrepancy.”
The Mustangs spent the rest of the week wondering if they would be playing another game. With weather delays holding back some sub-district play, it wasn’t until Sunday that the team knew they would not only be playing in the district final but also hosting it. “I wondered how the girls would practice, not knowing if we would still have more to our season. I was not the least bit shocked when they came into the gym with the same energy they have had all season. It was nice to just play basketball, and even if we didn’t get to play another game, getting some extra time in the gym together was great.” The 7-seeded Mustangs were set to take on the 17-6 10-seeded Paxton Tigers in the D2-7 District Final on Friday, February 27th.
To start the game, MaKenna Karr attacked the rim, where she got fouled and hit her two free throws. In subsequent possessions, Libby Soucek and Kamille Karr hit shots from behind the arc to give the Mustangs an 8-point advantage in the first two minutes of the game. However, Paxton regrouped and found some success in transition, evening the game at 8 apiece. With three more free throws for Karr, the Mustangs found themselves trailing the Tigers 14-11 at the end of the first quarter.
In the second quarter, the Tigers took control, adding 14 more, while Silver Lake added 8. Brooklyn Himmelberg came off the bench to add a spark, hitting a corner 3, while Sophie Schmidt and MaKenna Karr found success through their defense, where they took steals to the other end for a bucket. However, the Tigers continued to find success in transition and offensive rebounds. “All week, we discussed the importance of limiting transition points and second-chance opportunities. They are a very quick team who look down the floor extremely well, and at times, we didn’t sprint down the floor to take that away. We made some halftime adjustments that helped to eliminate some transition points.
Coming out of halftime trailing by 9, the Mustangs switched some matchups and looked to find some ways to adjust against Paxton’s zone defense. Finally, about three minutes into the third quarter, Schmidt knocked down a three. A huge turning point for the Mustangs came off an offensive rebound for Himmelberg, who got fouled and hit both free throws. Following that possession, Schmidt got fouled and hit both free throws, and Soucek attacked the rim in back-to-back possessions to add 4 more. Following those possessions, Schmidt picked off passes in back-to-back possessions, making a lay-up in one and getting fouled and knocking down a free throw in the other, putting her team back to within 4 points going into the final possession. Soucek found her groove in the fourth quarter, hitting three 3-point shots, which put the Mustangs up by 5. She added the exclamation point by hitting one more three-pointer, which gave the Mustangs an 11-point lead, which Kamille Karr added on to by hitting another three-pointer. “I was so proud of the girls for their confidence in themselves and their teammates during the District Final. Even when we were down 12 points, they showed a composure and confidence that told me we could win the game. The team found the players who were open and had the hot hand at the time, which allowed us the opportunity to take back the lead.”
It wasn’t until 2 minutes left in regulation that the Tigers managed to put a point on the board with a free throw, ending the Mustangs’ 23-0 run. Schmidt ended the game by hitting a floater at the shot clock buzzer. “In the fourth quarter, we switched our defense slightly. We added some pressure to their player who had the hot hand, and I felt that Brooklyn did an excellent job of keeping the ball out of her hands and allowing us to shake things up. Our defense is what fueled that comeback and allowed us to have success on the other end.”
Soucek finished the night with 20 points, going 5 for 8 from behind the arc. Schmidt added 12 herself, and she had 5 assists and 6 steals for the night. MaKenna Karr added 10 rebounds. The Mustangs finished with a 52-43 victory, punching their tickets to the state tournament for the second year in a row. “While it was heartbreaking to lose to McCool the way that we did, I truly think it benefited us at the District Final. While losing can be hard, learning lessons from each game is so important. We learned that a game is never over, and we were able to make that comeback partly because we learned from the previous game.”