The Crete News Online

Crete girls post two easy wins

The Crete High girls’ basketball team improved to 13-7 on the season last week with a pair of easy victories, cruising past Hastings 58-23 in the Crete High gym Tuesday and 66-39 at Aurora Friday.

The Cardinals, ranked No. 9 in Class B this week by the Journal Star, play No. 7 Waverly Tuesday at 6 p.m. in a makeup game and will close the regular season Friday when they travel to meet top-ranked Seward in another 6 p.m. tip-off.

Play in the B-4 district tournament, which features Crete, Seward, Beatrice, York and Schuyler, begins Tuesday at Lincoln North Star. York and Schuyler meet in Tuesday's first-round game, with the winner advancing to play Seward in the first semifinal Feb. 23 at 5:15. Crete takes on No. 3 Beatrice in the second semifinal, slated to start at 7.

The district final is set for Feb. 24 at 7.

Crete 58, Hastings 23

The Cardinals went on a 15-1 run to end the second quarter Tuesday on the way to the blowout victory.

Crete led just 10-8 after one quarter and 13-12 before the offensive outburst that left them on top 28-13 at intermission. Kaitlin Bradley and Morgan Hill scored 10 and six of their shared game-high 16 points apiece in the second stanza.

Crete coach Marcus Gillespie said that defense set it all up.

“We were pretty lackadaisical defensively in the first quarter, but once we started playing a little tougher, defense led to a lot of easy baskets,” he said.

Gillespie added that Crete could have been a lot sharper on the offensive end.

“We weren’t moving the ball very well, and I wasn’t happy with our offensive production in the first half,” he said. “That’s something we really stressed at halftime and we did a good job in the second half.”

Crete 66, Aurora 39

The Cardinals got off to a strong start Friday in Aurora, led by 10 points after one quarter and were never seriously threatened.

Alex Edwards, who led Crete with 16 points and seven rebounds, hit a pair of early three-pointers, while Bradley scored five points and Hill added four on the way to an 18-8 Cardinal lead after one.

The Cardinals committed eight turnovers in the second stanza, but held the Huskies scoreless through the last 3:47 and still led by 12 at intermission.

“We came out great with our transition game in the first quarter, but we weren’t doing a good job in the second quarter of getting high-percentage shots,” Gillespie said.

The Cardinals addressed that in the third quarter, hitting their first six shots from the floor and taking a 42-25 lead. Bradley, who finished with 15 points, and Hill each hit a pair of buckets while Kaitlin Paulsen hit a three and Breanna Fye added a two.

For more on last week's games, see the Feb. 15 print or E-editions of The Crete News.