The Kenston girls basketball season started with a challenging early season schedule — and with the challenging schedule, the Bombers have performed well.
The Kenston girls basketball season started with a challenging early season schedule — and with the challenging schedule, the Bombers have performed well.
They defeated the NDCL Lions to claim their first victory of the season and also took Hudson to overtime in the season opener.
They also competed admirably against the tough and very athletic Green Bulldogs.
Discussing the first three games of the season, Kenston Head Coach Kevin Hinkle provided his thoughts about how the team had performed so far.
“You never know what to expect from the first couple games,” Hinkle said. “I thought we had a nice second half against Hudson. We struggled a little bit in the first half and got the jitters out and forced overtime. (We just made) a couple little mistakes here and there.
“Very pleased with the way we played against NDCL. I thought we were very aggressive, and we made a living on the offensive glass.
“We came down here (on Dec. 2) to play a very good Green team. That was the purpose of the game, to see some teams that are physical, athletic, and see where we are at this early point in the year. For us to play the Green Bulldogs, we thought this was a no-lose situation. We hung with them, but we realized that we got exposed at some points and we need to work on moving forward.”
In the Bombers’ victory over NDCL, Kenston was led by sophomore Aurora Young, who scored 19 points.
In fact, Young had eight points in the first quarter and six points in the second quarter to help the Bombers take a 26-12 lead going into halftime.
NDCL scored 23 points in the third quarter, then added six more points in the fourth quarter to defeat NDCL, 55-39.
She emphasized that in the victory over NDCL, the Bombers exerted their will.
“I think we just really played more physical than they (NDCL) did,” Young said. “Offensively, we really worked on getting good shots and getting good offensive rebounds and finishing around the rim.”
Young said she thought the Lions were not closing out on her effectively, which allowed her to attack the rim. This also allowed her to get the ball on the perimeter and move quickly to the rim.
“Even if I got a defensive rebound on one end, I was able to dribble down the court and get a layup on the other end,” Young recalled.
In addition to the excellent performance by Young against the Lions, offensive contributions were made against NDCL by Alexis Black (11 points), Carley Timmons (5), Ali Manis (5), Morgan Cicek (4), Amy Jarmolowicz (4) and Mariela Macias (4).
NDCL was led by Olivia White (10 points), Emma Surbey (6), Maya Rowan (5), Giovanna O’Brien (5) and Angela Kale (4).
In the games against Hudson and Green, Kenston was led by Cicek, who had 15 against Hudson and nine points against Green.
Cicek discussed her excellent 15-point performance against Hudson.
“It was a wonderful way to start off the season and a good way to start getting us going,” Cicek said. “I’ve been waiting for this season all summer; I just had to let it all out and play ball.”
Next up, on Dec. 6, Kenston would play Padua Franciscan and NDCL would play Riverside.
