LUSK – For two schools separated by just 95 miles, their history on the basketball court is very miniscule.

A year ago, Niobrara County crossed the Nebraska state line to face the red and white Hemingford Bobcats, and this time, it was Hemingford’s turn to visit Tiger Gym.

The ladies took the court first last Saturday afternoon and a nifty reverse layup by Riley Shaw at the first period buzzer helped Lusk to the 8-5 lead.

Anna Richardson buried a 3-pointer to extend the lead, but the visitors quickly tied the game at 11. Cold shooting and turnovers from the locals gave Hemingford an 18-15 halftime lead.

The visitors bumped the lead to 24-17 before a timeout sparked Shaw, Richardson and Danni Larson on an 8-2 run to get within one. Freshman Melody ZumBrunnen’s first varsity points gave NCHS the 27-26 lead with a minute left and Abby Kottwitz’s buzzer beater wrapped a 9-0 run by the Lady Tigers for the 31-26 lead with one quarter to go.

In a wild turnover prone final stanza, Shaw, Richardson and Kottwitz scored all 13 of Lusk’s points and held off the Lady ‘Cats comeback attempt.

NCHS improved to 2-3 on the season with the 44-37 win.

SCORE BY QUARTERS

HHS 5 13 8 11 – 37

NCHS 8 7 16 13 – 44

TEAM STATS

HHS: 14/36 FG; 1/6 3PT; 6/12 FT; 38 REB; 6 AST; 6 STL; 26 TO; 20 PF

NCHS: 16/41 FG; 1/7 3PT; 9/19 FT; 34 REB; 10 AST; 14 STL; 20 TO; 16 PF

NCHS PLAYER STATS: Scoring- Kottwitz 16; Shaw 9; Richardson 9; Potter 4; Larson 2; Krueger 2; ZumBrunnen 2. Rebounds- Shaw 8; Krueger 7; Kottwitz 6. Assists- Shaw 7. Steals- Shaw 4.

Shortly after the Lady Tigers victory, a solid and experienced Bobcat boys’ squad tipped off against NCHS.

They buried three treys early, yet behind Ryan Bruegger’s six-point quarter, only led 11-7. The visitors sank three more long-ranger shots in the second period but still couldn’t shake the pesky Tigers.

What should have been a much larger lead for the nine-deep Bobcats was just 23-18 at the break.

Lusk hung around in the third quarter behind 3-pointers from Jayce Cummins and Walker Kupke and trailed 40-32 entering the fourth.

From there, the visitor’s depth began to take a toll as they used a 20-6 final period run to pull away from NCHS in the 60-38 final score.

SCORE BY QUARTERS

HHS 11 12 17 20 – 60

NCHS 7 11 14 6 – 38

TEAM STATS

HHS: 15/34 FG; 8/20 3PT; 6/16 FT; 40 REB; 14 AST; 10 STL; 16 TO; 8 PF

NCHS: 14/37 FG; 2/11 3PT; 4/13 FT; 31 REB; 13 AST; 12 STL; 20 TO; 15 PF

NCHS PLAYER STATS: Scoring- R. Bruegger 19; Molzahn 7; Cummins 4; Kupke 3; Wells 3; C. Bruegger 2. Rebounds- R. Bruegger 11; Cummins 6; Wells 5. Assists- R. Bruegger 5. Blocks- R. Bruegger 5.

The junior varsity girls played two quarters and beat the Lady Bobcats 25-20 as Phoebe Allbright led Lusk with eight points. ZumBrunnen added six and Serenity Reynolds scored four. The young Lady Tigers host the Casper Natrona freshmen Friday at 5:30 p.m.

On Saturday, both teams travel to 1A Rock River for varsity only contests with the girls starting at 1 p.m. and the boys to follow at 2:30 p.m.