Last night the Valley Heights Mustangs went on the road to take on Nemaha Central, a match-up that has never happened. Nemaha Central Girls were searching for their first win of the season and secured it by a close margin last night, while the Thunder Boys were looking to stay flawless on the year, and they did.

Girls - Nemaha Central over Valley Heights 39-37

The Lady Mustangs enter the night ranked fourth in the class of 2A while the Thunder Girls fell out of the top ten rankings in 3A just this week. The first quarter was a struggling start for both teams as there were more turnovers than points scored. The first quarter ended 6-4 with Valley Heights taking over in the last couple of minutes. Cami Dalinghaus started the second quarter with a layup to tie it 6-6, but both teams collectively scored eight points a piece in the second quarter to head into the half 14-12, Mustangs still leading. So far, early on, it was points off of turnovers and transitions that were the main method of getting on the board for both sides.

The tide completely switched for Nemaha Central come about the third quarter however. Not only was the Thunder getting on the board more, but they were controlling and handling the ball much better, limiting turnovers. The Lady Thunder out-scored the Mustangs 13-6 in the third quarter with help from some massive threes canned by Emma Hermesch and Hallie Holthaus. Valley Heights came out strong in the final quarter of play and managed to output more points in the fourth than the Thunder, 17-14. But despite the valiant effort and with many final chance opportunities to tie or take the lead with seconds left on the clock, the Mustangs would turn the ball over without even a shot taken and lose their first game this season. 

Cali Honeyman lead the scoring for the Thunder by hitting her points-per-game average of twelve with also five boards. Emma Hermesch had a great night with ten points and nailing two threes, both coming in the second half. Cami Dalinghaus had three rebounds and nine points on the game to finish with a solid performance. Ava Smith  led the charge with eleven points and three rebounds for the Mustangs while Anne Toerber had five boards and ten points to contribute to the team. Tessa Miller had her best game of the season for Valley Heights with seven points, hitting a trey in the third quarter. 

Boys - Nemaha Central over Valley Heights 53-33

Class 3A Thunder boys stormed out of the gates in the opening quarter with yet again, another dominant start 18-5 exiting the first. Six points alone in the quarter coming underneath from the senior, Colby Frehe. It was a 28-12 half with the Thunder out-scoring the Mustangs 10-7 in the second quarter. Logan Gray for the Mustangs had eight of the team’s total twelve tallies up to this point and would continue his incredible performance in the second half. 

Mustangs were only able to get five points out of the third quarter, all from Logan Gray to make it 42-17 going into the final quarter of play. Colby Frehe dominated the third with seven points, which including a huge three-pointer that splashed in. The Mustangs did out-score the Thunder in the last quarter 16-11, but it wasn’t enough to surpass the 53-33 defeat. 

Colby Frehe had an outstanding night for the thunder with fifteen points and six rebounds as well as a three point shot. Layton Thomas had six points total off two treys, Carter Hajek had three points, Kaden Peterson with four points and five boards, Caleb Strathman got four points, and Jayden Seltz finished with eight tallies. a total of ten players scored for the Thunder while only six scored for the Mustangs. Valley Heights did have one notable scorer in Logan Gray who finished the game with twenty points, even knocking down two threes in the second half. Mustangs hit two total threes, while the Thunder hit four. 

Summary

The Nemaha Central Girls finally get their break and win a heart-racing game to capture the first season win and will look to secure their first league play win this Friday against Jeff West. Nemaha Central boys remain undefeated at 4-0 and will try to continue their unbeaten streak this Friday against the Tigers as well. Valley Heights Lady Mustangs drop their first game to go to 3-1 but will look for a quick bounce back this Friday versus the top ranked in class 1A D1 team, Centralia. Mustang Boys will search for their first win sitting at 0-4 as they go to Centralia on Friday as well. 

The most anticipated match-up between Valley Heights and Centralia will be broadcasted on 92.1 KMZA this Friday, starting at 6:00pm with the girls, followed up with the boys at around 7:30pm.