Round 2 of the Panhandle Conference tournament had the Alliance St. Agnes Academy play Hemingford in semi final action. The Lady Crusaders built a double digit lead in the opening period and held off the Bobcats 27 to 16 to advance to the conference champion game. St. Agnes raced out to a 12 to 2 after one period of play and moved into a first place game with Crawford. Hemingford had a nice showing in downing both Sioux County and Morrill before falling to the Crusaders. With the victory, the Academy improved to 9 and 2 on the season.
Twelve huge points by SA in the first 6 minutes of play helped Alliance gain the early edge. Eighth grader Maslin Breen scored 5 first period tallies to lead the Alliance offense. Adding 4 points was Penn Vergil while Kale Hulquist tossed in 3. The Bobcats got a first quarter basket by Emerson Horstman. After one, the Academy led 12 to 2. Hemingford made things interesting in the period #2. The Cats outscored the Academy 10 to 6 in cut their deficit to 6. Four more points by Horstman plus 2 baskets by Kamryn Haas helped Hemingford stay close. Also scoring for the Cats in the second was Kennedy Kumpf. SA would score 6 points in the quarter, getting goals from Quinn Robertson and Breen. After 2 periods of play, the Crusaders led 18 to 12.
Only three buckets were scored in the third. Alliance got a hoop and a free throw by Breen to maintain their lead. Alexis Shelmadine and Vergil added free throws while scoring 2 pointers by the Bobcats were Leah Krebs and Trinity Finnell. After three quarters of action, St. Agnes had a 23 to 16 advantage. Alliance’s defense was super strong in the final period as the Cats failed to score. St. Agnes would score only 4 points in the fourth, getting 2 free throws by Aubree Shrewsbury and another goal by Breen. Final Alliance 27 Hemingford 16
HEM 2 10 4 0 16
SA 12 6 5 4 27
Scoring St. Agnes Breen 12 Vergil 5 Robertson 4 Hulquist 3 Shrewsbury 2 Shelmadine 1
Hemingford Horstman 6 Haas 4 Finnell 2 Kumpf 2 Krebs 2