The Chadron Cardinals boys and girls basketball teams were down in Alliance for an old fashioned Friday Night rivalry showdown. The girls team held on to win 46-38 while the boys fell 57-44.
The Chadron girls ran out of the game with a 20-0 run during the first quarter of the game. Alliance scored their first points 30 seconds into the second quarter and it was on the rest of the way. Alliance battled back to cut the score to 22-13 at the half. Chadron did just enough in the second half to hold off Alliance with the final score being 46-38. In a game that saw Alliance out-score the Cardinals 38-26 after the first quarter.
Jezy Alcorn led the Cardinals with 16 points, Reese Ritterbush finished with 12, Gracie Calkins with 10, Cali Hendrickson had five, Sophie Watson with two and Addison Morrison finished with one point.
The boys game featured two head coaches in Kyle Sanders and Jordan Mills, who were high school teammates at Alliance. But it was the Alliance head coach who took the first meeting between the two with the Bulldogs winning 57-44. The first quarter was tight with Alliance leading 14-11 after eight minutes. The second quarter was the Espen Lanik show for Alliance as he hit three 3’s to shove Alliance out to a 35-21 lead at halftime. Alliance continued to pull away during the second half to get the 57-44 win.
Brady Daniels led the Cardinals with 15 points, Talon Jelinek was behind him with 12, Thomas Smith had eight, Derek Bissonette had seven and Tobin Landen finished with one point.
The Cardinals girls are now 2-2 and the boys drop to 1-3. The Cardinals will welcome in Douglas, South Dakota for one final matchup before the holiday break. Tip for girls is set for 2:30 with boys at approximately 4pm.