The Chadron Cardinals girls and boys basketball teams inched closer and closer to the subdistrict tournaments this past Friday and Saturday with a back to back, first was Hill City on Friday night in the first home game in three weeks with the first ever matchup against the Rangers. Then turned around on Saturday, visiting the Heart City to take on the Valentine Badgers. It was a tough weekend for the Cardinals as they fell to Hill City 50-26 in girls while the boys lost 56-48. Then on Saturday in Valentine the Cardinals lost 54-43 in girls before falling 76-55 in boys.
The weekend opened up for the Cardinals with the first home game in three weeks when they took on Hill City. The Cardinals got behind early but made it a fight losing 50-26 in girls. Jezy Alcorn and Gracie Calkins each had five points while Jacey Turman had four. Beau Behrends had three, Brooklyn Hoffman and Cali Hendrickson had two points while Sophie Watson, Jove Griese and Thaivunh Sayaloune each had one point each.
The boys followed with Hill City getting up early. The Cardinals got within a bucket a few times late but could not break through and grab the lead with Hill City extending the lead late at the free throw line to win 56-48. Brady Daniels had 16 points, Thomas Smith with 13, Tobin Landen had 11, Derek Bissonette had six with Talon Jelinek rounding out the scoring with two.
21 hours later the Cardinals were back in action in Valentine taking on the Badgers. The girls game was a battle throughout. The Cardinals found themselves down in the first half by 10 but made things interesting late before falling 54-43. Jove Griese had nine points to lead the Cardinals effort. Jezy Alcorn had eight points. Gracie Calkins, Reese Ritterbush, Sophie Watson, Cali Hendrickson, Rylan Barry, and Brooklyn Hoffman had four. Jacey Turman rounded out the scoring for the Cardinals with two points.
The final game of the weekend saw the Chadron boys in a battle vs Valentine. The Badgers led 20-16 at the end of the first quarter. The margin of four stayed the same at half with Valentine leading 31-27. The Badgers, on the heels of three Issac Cronin dunks, started pulling away in the third quarter before finishing off a 76-55 win. Brady Daniels had 18 points to lead the Cardinals. Thomas Smith had 11, Creighton Ryan and Cole Carnahan had five. Tobin Landen, Trey Owsley, and Tyson Pourier had four points while Derek Bissonette had three in the game.
The Cardinals roll into the last full week of the regular season with the girls sitting at 11-10 and the boys at 10-10. The week starts with a girls/boys doubleheader on Tuesday vs Douglas, Wyoming and a boys/girls doubleheader vs Sidney on Friday.