Second half dooms Wauneta-Palisade in district finals

    As the seventh seed in the Class D2-7 district, the Wauneta-Palisade girls’ basketball team liked its chances against 10th-seeded Diller-Odell.
    A free throw by the Griffins put them on the board first, but a free throw and three pointer by Alexa Sandman gave WP an early 4-3 lead. The teams traded baskets, with Chloe Stehno scoring for the Broncos, but with just over two minutes gone in the game Peyton Cox headed to the bench with her third foul. Cali Cox tied the game at 8-8, but the Broncos went cold over the next three minutes and soon trailed 8-13. Two free throws by Sandman jump started WP’s offense. After GraCee Goings pulled the Broncos to within one point, 12-13, P. Cox came back in for the quarter’s final minute and immediately made a difference. The sophomore was fouled twice and made two free throws to give the Broncos a 14-13 advantage at the end of the first quarter.
    Neither team could have been considered hot in the second quarter. A basket by Goings kept WP within a point of the Griffins and two free throws by Sandman gave the Broncos an 18-17 lead with 3:57 remaining in the half. Stehno responded to a Diller-Odell basket with two free throws to keep Wauneta-Palisade in the lead, 20-19, with two minutes left in the half. The Griffins took a brief lead with 22.2 seconds on the clock, but Sandman rattled in a bucket to give WP a 22-21 halftime lead.
    WP Head Coach Matt Cox said he liked where the Broncos were heading into halftime.
    “I felt really good about our chances to win the game at halftime,” Cox said.
    “Peyton’s early foul trouble didn’t seem to affect us much, but it did hurt us on the offensive end of the floor. We score so many points with her offensive rebounds, and we really missed her in that regard,” Cox added.
    The third quarter killed the Broncos. After getting driving baskets to drop and fouls called on Diller-Odell in the first half, the tide turned in the second half as WP couldn’t find any luck.
    Cox didn’t just notice the difference in the third quarter, but in the whole game.
    “We missed shots the entire game that we had been hitting for the last month,” Cox said.
    Wauneta-Palisade didn’t score for the first three minutes of the half, allowing Diller-Odell to take a 22-28 lead. Sandman broke the Griffins’ seven-point run with a basket of her own. P. Cox started the second half and rattled in a free throw with four minutes gone in the quarter, but soon found herself heading back to the bench with her fourth foul. The Broncos’ long stretches with no points continued throughout the quarter. C. Cox hit a basket with 2:15 left in the quarter and Goings made one with 25 seconds left to round out WP scoring in the third quarter.
    After making 9-12 free throws in the first half, WP struggled at the line as the game wore on, only making 1-6 in the third quarter and found themselves trailing 29-39 when the fourth quarter began.
    Diller-Odell sealed the game from the charity stripe in the fourth quarter. The Griffins made 13-14 free throws, nearly enough to match all of the Broncos’ offensive output. Sandman led WP in the fourth quarter, making three field goals and all three free throw attempts. Stehno and P. Cox each added baskets, as well.
    As the game wore on, fouls accumulated for both teams. P. Cox and C. Cox each fouled out for the Broncos and Goings finished the game with four fouls. Diller-Odell had one player foul out and three with four fouls.
    Unable to keep pace in the fourth quarter, WP lost the game 43-65.
    Sandman finished as the only Bronco in double figures with 21 points, including 8-9 from the free throw line.
    “Alexa played a tremendous game, it’s the type of game you want your senior to have when the season is on the line, we just didn’t give her enough help in the scoring department,” Cox said.
    Stehno and Goings each finished with six points.
    With P. Cox on the bench, Diller-Odell had three players with double-digit rebound totals.
    P. Cox led WP with eight rebounds. Sandman, Goings and Stehno each had seven rebounds and the Broncos pulled down nearly as many offensive rebounds, 17, as defensive rebounds, 18.
    The Griffins made 20-24 free throws in the game compared to 14-28 for the Broncos.
    Overall, Cox said WP had great looks, especially in the first half. From eight feet away and closer, they just wouldn’t go down.
    “We’ve got a great core coming back, but Alexa did so many things so well, its going to be tough to fill that void,” Cox said.
District results
Friday was rough on the RPAC conference.
In Class D1, Cambridge, seeded 12th, lost to Ravenna and Alma, seeded sixth, lost to Nebraska Christian.
The Class D2 eighth seed, Maywood/Hayes Center, lost to ninth-seeded Wynot 20-44.
Class D2’s top seed, Falls City Sacred Heart, beat Osceola 63-23.
Second-seeded Humphrey St. Francis beat Sandhills/Thedford 65-42.
Third-seeded St. Mary’s beat Exeter-Milligan 56-32.
Fourth-seeded Anselmo-Merna beat Parkview Christian in a low-scoring contest, 27-26.
Sterling, the fifth seed, beat 12th-seeded South Platte 65-33.
Crawford was seeded sixth and beat Silver Lake 49-74.
The Class D2 state tournament will begin Monday morning. Games will continue Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.