Girls fall to 'Gators, hold off Patriots

The Custer High School girls basketball team used an 11-0 fourth quarter run last Friday night in the armory to outlast the winless Douglas Patriots 52-38 in a game that was much closer for longer than most people probably thought it would be for much longer than those same people thought it should have been.

The Wildcats actually trailed the Patriots 36-35 with around five minutes left in the fourth quarter, before the Custer comeback was started by Custer’s bench players. Exasperated by her starters’ play, head coach Stephanie Ornelas yanked her entire starting lineup—sans Shawna Gibson—from the game, and replaced them with girls off the bench.

“Iâ��was not satisfied by their (the starters) performance,”â��Ornelas said. “They were walking around on offense and defense, and that is not acceptable. That’s why they were yanked.”

Sophomore center Kenzie Swanson got the rally started, scoring four straight points inside to give Custer back the lead and start the 11-0 run. A�Tiffany Dower basket capped the run, and Taylor Kuhn made six consecutive free throws late to seal the win.

“The starters fought a hard game the night before, and I’m not sure if that wore them out or not, but they need to be prepared for every game,”â��Ornelas said. “Iâ��don’t know what their mind set was. The bench wanted it more, and it showed when they got on the floor.”

The game was sloppy and turnover plagued throughout, and Custer was only able to build up a 3-0 late into the first quarter, and led 5-1 after a Breezy Boldon basket at the 2:47 mark. Douglas didn’t score its first ponts until around that same time, and Custer led 10-5 after the first quarter.

Custer appeared to be asserting itself in the second quarter, as the Wildcats took a nine point lead after Josie Thomsen scored two of her 10 points on a basket inside, which was followed by an Ariel Cisneros three-pointer.

Douglas outscored Custer 13-8 in the third quarter, thanks to a full court press that gave the Wildcats fits, along with some misses on easy shots by the ’Cats. A Jazmyn Mundell basket cut the Custer lead to 29-27 at the 4:15 mark, and the Patriots’ Thalia Wynne buried a three-pointer on the ensuing Douglas possession to give the Patriots a one point lead.  The team exchanged leads and ties for the remainder of the third quarter into the fourth, before the Wildcat subs came in and helped Custer take control for good.

“It was encouraging to see girls who haven’t even had varsity floor time come in and play well,”â��Ornelas said.

Gibson was the only other Wildcat to score in double figures, contributing 10 points.

“The game was closer than I expected, but Douglas has improved greatly,”â��Ornelas said. “Their record is surprising. They have some pretty good athletes on the floor.”

Last Thursday night the team started fast and jumped out to an early lead over the undefeated Newell Irrigators before eventually losing 43-34 in Newell.

The Wildcats opened up a 9-4 first quarter lead, before Newell, ranked No. 1 in the Class B girls basketball poll, used a strong second quarter and even stronger third quarter to pull away from Custer.

“We started very well, we just didn’t stay consistant,”â��Ornelas said. “Had we played better in the second and third quarter, the score would have been different.”

In the second half, the Irrigators began to pound the ball inside to Megan Mutchler, as the Newell junior scored 11 of her 18 points in the game to give the Irrigators a lead they would not relinquish.

“Megan is a good player,”â��Ornelas said. “She is going to be a player to reckon with for a couple of years.”

The Wildcats cut the lead to single digits early in the fourth quarter, but another Newell three-pointer pushed the lead back to 10. Custer only scored 14 points in the second half of the game.

Ariel Cisneros led Custer in scoring with 15 points, while Gibson added nine. Josie Thomsen pulled down 10 rebounds for the team.

The girls, now 10-4, play four games in five days, beginning Friday night with a 6 p.m. game at Belle Fourche, followed by a home tilt versus Hill City Saturday at 4 p.m. The team will then make up its weather-delayed game at Lead-Deadwood Monday night, with tip off scheduled for 5 p.m. Tuesday night the girls host Newcastle, Wyo., at 7 p.m.

“Iâ��think physically, we will be fine,”â��Ornelas said of playing four games with only one day of rest. “It’s the mental part we need to keep focused on.”

Custer 10 17 8 17 —52

Douglas 5 14 13 6 —38

Custer—Ariel Cisneros 2 1-7 6, Taylor Kuhn 0 6-6 6, Josie Thomsen 5 0-0 10, Shawna Gibson 4 2-4 10, Breezy Boldon 3 0-3 6, Kenzie Swanson 2 0-0 4, Tiffany Dower 4 0-1 8. Totals: 19 9-21 52.

Newell—Christina Scheler 3 1-5 7, Shelby Gauthier 1 0-0 2, Jazmyn Mundell 5 0-0 10, Thalia Wynne 3 6-6 13, Jalyssa Mundell 2 2-4 6. Totals: 14 9-15 38.

Three-point goals:�Custer 1 (Cisneros), Douglas 1 (Wynne). Total fouls: Custer 18, Douglas 21. Fouled out: Wynne.

Custer 9 11 5 9 —34

Newell 4 18 13 8 —43

Custer—Ariel Cisneros 5 2-2 15, Josie Thomsen 3 0-2 6, Shawna Gibson 4 1-2 9, Tiffany Dower 2 0-0 4. Totals: 14 3-6 34.

Newell—Karissa Orr 3 2-2 9, Jordan Trohkimoinen 2 2-2 7, Megan Mutchler 5 8-12 18, Taylor Trohkimoinen 1 1-2 3, Morgan Myers 2 0-0 4, Ceirra Boylan 2 0-2 4. Totals: 15 11-18 43.

Three-point goals:�Custer 3 (Cisneros 3), Newell 2 (Orr, J. Trohkimoinen). FG percentages:�Custer 28 (14-49), Newell 38 (15-40). Rebounds:�Custer 28 (Thomsen 10), Newell 25 (Mutchler 13). Turnovers: Custer 10, Newell 8. Total fouls: Custer 14, Newell 8. Fouled out: Gibson.