It was the Big 7 League opener for Nemaha Central and Holton on Friday night in Seneca and both Thunder teams jumped to early double-digit leads that would help produce wins! 

GIRLS = Nemaha Central 44, Holton 29

Coming off a tough shooting night and loss to St. Mary's, Nemaha Central scored the first seven points of the contest and led 14-1 about four minutes into the game before completing a 21-6 opening quarter. Both teams scored 23 points the rest of the night to keep the final margin at 15. Holton hung around 10 points all night but could never make a push to fully get back in the game, thanks in large part to committing 27 turnovers. 

Despite still struggling at times shooting, Nemaha Central had a big advantage on the glass and got 14 points from Reagan Gerety and 12 from Cali Honeyman while Hallie Holthaus and Cami Dalinghaus each hit a trey and combined to score 11 boosting the Thunder record to 2-1 on the season. 

Holton played their first of several games without top returning scorer Brooke Willcott, who is out with a foot injury and the Wildcats struggled to score making only seven shots the entire night. They did end up 14-20 from the free throw line and were led in scoring by Lili Tanking, who posted all seven of her points off the bench in the first half before Holton dropped to 1-2 on the season. 

BOYS = Nemaha Central 44, Holton 37

Similar to the girls game, the Nemaha Central boys scored the first nine points of the night and led 17-3 at the end of one quarter. Holton would outscore the Thunder in the second and third quarters to pull within 32-26 entering the fourth. The Wildcats then closed the gap to 39-37 with just under a minute to play when Brayden Peek knocked down a trey. However, the Cats missed their final five shots to finish the game and Nemaha Central connected on five of eight free throws to seal the victory. 

Bodie Dillon and Peek both scored in double figures for the third straight game with 14 and 12 points while Kyler Kathrens added 6 to account for all of Holton's scoring minus four points. The Cats are now 0-3 on the season. 

Nemaha Central did not have a double-figure scorer with Evan Olberding making 5 of 6 foul shots in the fourth quarter to finish with 9 points and Trent Thomas adding 8. Colby Frehe and Abe Hilbert each posted 6 points as Nemaha improved to 2-1 this year.