Colo-Nesco survived a second-half rally to win 38-34 over Lynville-Sully in the opening game of the girls’ state basketball tournament. Colo-Nesco built a 7 point lead until the Hawks made their run that included three straight three-pointers. Royals coach, Wayne Cafferty says his team let up, stood up on defense and “we just had a brain freeze there and gave them some easy looks and they hit some big three’s.”
Colo-Nesco lost their first-round game last year, and Cafferty was glad they survived this one. “We wanted to get to the next game, we wanted to get a chance to play Wednesday night, to play more than once this year,” Cafferty says. Senior Caitlynn Reese had 12 of her game-leading 19 points in the first half, but says they weren’t running anything special. “No, I just post up and my team looks in and if they get it in that’s great, I just try to make the best of what I can,” Reese says.
Reese got some key rebounds down the stretch and says they really tightened up the defense late when Lynville-Sully needed a three. “That was big, that was definitely key. We started covering out on the three’s more since they were shooting them and hitting them. That was the biggest change and we just knew we couldn’t foul, otherwise they would just get that much closer to getting us,” she says.
Lynville coach Jerry Hulsing says there wasn’t anything big they did to make a run. “Made some shots, really seriously and we just had some good ball movement and got some kids open in rhythm and doing that,” Hulsing says. He’s pleased with his team’s effort. “We just kept finding a way and finding a way to try to come back and win that. They have a lot of heart, they are a great group of kids, I think the world of them, they just battled and kept coming back and doing what we needed to do,” Hulsing says. Lysandra James led Hawks with 11 points.
Lynville-Sully finishes the season at 21-4. Colo-Nesco moves to 24-1 and will play in Wednesday’s semifinals.