BRADY – Another competitive season came to a close for the Loomis Lady Wolves Friday night in the D2-District 4 Final in Brady at the hands of the Mullen Broncos.
Mullen, winners of 23 games coming into the contest, had looked dominant all season while Loomis had gotten hot late into the year, namely after their Fort Kearney Conference tournament run which saw the Wolves get upset wins over SEM and Elm Creek before falling to Pleasanton in the final. Both teams were prepared for a gritty matchup in the district final after winning their respective sub-district tournaments last week.
Mullen started the game strong, quickly gaining the lead by applying a fast attacking pressure defense that Loomis took some time to counteract with. As Loomis started slow, Mullen’s star power shined through as Samantha Moore, a four year starter for the Broncos and a future UNK Loper, knocked down two triples in the opening minutes. Sam Schemper for the Wolves responded with her own three pointer to get Loomis on the board, but Mullen proved to be too quick on the offensive shot selection as Taylor Svoboda fired quick shots to gather up 10 points in the opening minutes. The Broncos outpaced Loomis 23-10 at the end of the first.
The same story continued in the second quarter as the contest began a very choppy pace with many stoppages of action due to fouls and turnovers. Loomis began to find rhythm offensively with 5 different scorers finding success in different ways, but Mullen had the bigger plays knocking down two three pointers and having three scorers finish the first half with 10 points. Jersie Hermanson for Loomis was a breath of fresh air finding four points after finding backdoor lanes along the baseline, and Hanna Stewart hit her second three pointer of the half to keep Loomis in the game as they trailed 41-23 at the half.
The third quarter was a completely different game for the Wolves as Loomis found their defensive strength as Mullen went cold and the Wolves were able to slowly chip away at the contest. A 16-8 run in the third quarter was speared by the five starters for Loomis, as Georgia Crandall, Alexis Billeter, Schemper, Hermanson, and Stewart all added points in a variety of ways and stifled the Mullen attack to Moore’s 7 points. As the fourth quarter began, new life was on display for Loomis as Mullen continued to lead 49-39.
In the final eight minutes, Loomis fought back tooth and nail but could not stop Mullen from burning time and finding extra offensive possessions off of misses. Moore was able to hit a three pointer to start the scoring, then added another four from the charity stripe. Svoboda added another four points as well, but Loomis was on a hot streak as desperate heaves ended in positive results with Schemper and Billeter knocking down three pointers and adding more contested shots. In the end, Loomis was unable to rally anywhere closer than 7 points in the final quarter, as the Wolves season ends against Mullen falling 63-53.
Mullen improves to 24-3 on the year and awaits their matchup into the state tournament in Lincoln. The Broncos had contributions from Moore with 24 points, Svoboda had 14 points, Kylie Licking had 10 points, Brooke McCully finished with 5 points, Faith Welsh had 4 points, and Lindsey Coble had 3 points.
Loomis finishes the year at 14-12 on the season. The Wolves had contributions from Schemper with 15 points, Billeter had 13, Stewart finished with 11 points, Hermanson had 9, and Crandall ended with 7.
