Sports

Sandy Creek hosted the Sutton Fillies Thursday, Jan. 25, with the Fillies running away with the win, downing the Cougars, 44-29.

Sutton came out running, getting multiple steals and then getting many open opportunities, as the Cougars were a little flustered with turnovers and not having shots fall.

Sutton outscored the Cougars 11-3 in the first quarter, and held an 18-7 halftime lead, before the Fillies outscored Sandy Creek in the second half, 26-22.

What got the Fillies on track in the game was hitting threes and just playing tough on defense, not letting the Cougars leading scorer Emma Fisher have any easy buckets around the rim.

Sutton shot at a 37.5 percent clip, making 15 of 40 shots from the floor, while the Cougars were just 9-33 (27.3%) overall.

Sandy Creek hit eight of 14 foul shots (57.1%), while the Fillies converted seven of 12 free throws (58.3%).

Coming off their 33-point blitzing of the Blue Hill Bobcats, Jan. 19, the Cougars strong game against the Bobcats carried over to the following day, Jan. 20, as they took on the Thayer Central Titans in Southern Nebraska Conference play, as the 7-3 Titans looked to be spoilers of Sandy Creek’s back-to-back wins over the Bobcats, and St. Paul.

Sandy Creek, however, wasn’t about to fall into the Titans trap, as the Cougars came out on top 52-36 to improve to 10-3, and secure the top seed in next week’s SNC tournament.

The three pointer was falling against the Titans, as Sandy Creek would go 7 of 16 with a big dose of help from senior Zach Corman as he was 5-8 from three-point range, and led the Cougars scoring with 17 points, while sophomore Oliver Oglesby also reached double digits with 12 points.

A tough night on the glass nearly made for an upset win for the 3-10 Ravenna Bluejays, Tuesday, Jan. 16, as the ‘Jays held a strong 33-17 rebounding edge over the Sutton Fillies, but a never quit attitude by Sutton helped the Fillies earn a hard fought 42-40 overtime win to improve to 8-5 with the win, while dropping Ravenna to 3-11 with the loss.

Sutton held a 20-18 halftime lead, but Ravenna, behind an 11-6 third quarter run, and a 7-4 Sutton advantage left the game at a 33-33 tie at the end of regulation, where in the bonus period, Sutton outscored Ravenna 9-7 to gain the win.

Sutton shot just over 31 percent from the floor, making 15 of 48 total shots. The Fillies were a solid 46.2 percent from two-point range, making 12 of 26 shots from short distance, but a tough 3-22 effort from threepoint range (13.6%) hurt the Fillies offensive output.

Following a tough 37-26 road loss to Centura, Jan.

2, the Sutton Fillies big hill to climb got even bigger last Thursday and Friday, as the Fillies hosted the 11-0 Cross County, and the 3-5 Centennial girls Jan. 4, and Jan.

5, but that big hill became a little less daunting after Sutton held off the Cross County girls in overtime, claiming a 42-39 victory, but one night later, the then 7-4 Fillies would see the Broncos use an 11-7 fourth quarter rally to defeat the Fillies, 33-31.

Sutton’s Thursday night tilt started off with a bang for the Fillies, as Sutton claimed a 15-4 first quarter lead before the Broncos outscored Sutton 15-9 in the middle two quarters to take a 24-19 lead into the fourth quarter, where Sutton punched the gas pedal again, and with a 10-5 rally, forced overtime, after senior Reagan Robinson hit a layup at the end of regulation to force overtime tied at 34.

The Sutton Mustangs wrestling team earned third place overall during action at the Wilber-Clatonia duals, Friday, Jan. 5, to open the 2024 portion of their season.

The Mustangs won two of their five duals, defeating both Norfolk Catholic, 40-31, and the Louisville Lions, 47-27.

Sutton fell to Bishop Neumann 45-28, to Johnson County Central 42-39, and to Milford 57-18 in action at Wilber-Clatonia High School.

SUTTON 40 NORFOLK CATH. 31 106- Double forfeit.

113- Korey Poppe, Sutton, won by forfeit.

120- Yair Santiago, NC, pins Lane Shore, Sutton,

1:57.

126- Connor Hinrichs, Sutton, pinned Blaise Kann, NC, 1:17.

132- Carter Fisher, NC, won 7-2 over Shawn Westmoreland, Sutton.

138- Oliver Daniel, NC, won by forfeit.

144- Landon Scheidemann, won a 10-2 major decision over Jonah Ash.

150- Noah Morland, NC, won 8-0 over Javin Jordan, Sutton.

157- Mason Dusek, NC, won by forfeit.

Accomplished, according to Websters Dictionary, is something, or someone that is established beyond doubt or dispute. In the eyes of many in the Nebraska high school girls basketball world, former Sandy Creek girls basketball coach Russ Ninemire could certainly be termed as an accomplished coach.

But in the eyes, and heart of Coach Ninemire, he feels accomplished because of the many student-athletes, and coaches that he’s had the luxury of coaching, and coaching with.

Sandy Creek dropped two games in the Blizzard Blowout to Centura and then to Fort Calhoun, with their record falling to 1-8 as they prepare this week for the 2024 portion of the basketball season.

Friday the Cougars took on Centura, falling to the Centurions 52-41, as Sandy Creek came out a little slow after a long break getting back into things, but Centura came out with their running shoes onwith many fast break points to claim a 24-12 first quarter lead.

Then the Cougars got into a groove and shots were falling from deep as that would keep the game close, and after halftime, Sandy Creek’s three-point shooting continued bringing them within nine, and in the fourth quarter Centura stepped up their defense and the Cougars couldn’t get any more rhythm from deep.

Leading scorer the first night for the Cougars was Emma Fisher with 12 points, as she had four field goals and was 4-6 from the freethrow line.

Friday the Cougars took on the Centura Centurions and came out on top 50-37.

The game was a slugfest from the beginning, with the Cougars pulling away in the fourth quarter with the help of some key steals and easy fast break points to come away with the win.

A key player for the night was Oliver Oglesby as he had 18 points and shot lights out shooting 80 percent for the night and had nine rebounds and two steals.

Ethan Shaw poured in 16 points, as Oglesby and Shaw combined for 34 of the Cougars’ 50 points in the win.

The Cougars came away with 25 rebounds, 17 defensive, and eight offensive rebounds.

Sandy Creek had 14 steals. The Cougars ball movement was good that night finding the open man and getting easy buckets, and they came away with 11 assists, led by Kaeden Schmidt with three.

The Sutton Mustangs wrestling team earned fourth place overall in the 2023 Sutton Duals home tournament, Tuesday, Dec. 19.

The Mustangs won two of their five duals, defeating both Exeter-Milligan/Friend, 60-9, and the Freeman Falcons, 54-12.

Thayer Central earned a 45-18 victory on the mats over Sutton, while Centennial, who placed first in the final overall standings, beat the Mustangs, 46-24, with the Wood River Eagles capturing a narrow three-point, 39-36 win over the Mustangs.

SUTTON 60-EMF 9

106- Double forfeit.

113- Double forfeit.

120- Korey Poppe, wins by forfeit.

126- Lane Shore, wins by forfeit.

132- Connor Hinrichs, wins by forfeit.

138- Shawn Westmoreland, wins by forfeit.

144- Landon Scheidemann, wins by forfeit.

150- Airan Herndandez, wins by forfeit.

157- Javin Jordan, wins by forfeit.

165- Brody Schelkopf falls to Dayton Kremer (EMF),

0:56.