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Lady Vikes close out 20-21 season

WAUSA — The Wausa Lady Vikings wrapped up the regular season last week, then finished post-season Monday after a loss to Osmond.

The Wausa squad (6-17) wrapped the regular season up in a week that head coach Brandon Kirby titled ‘the week of two halves,’ as each of the two games saw good first half performances undone by struggle of some degree after halftime.

They started the week with an impressive performance in a 36- 30 loss at Hartington-Newcastle.

“As I stated the other week, I knew we would play better and make this one more of a game, and we did,” Kirby said of the rematch with the Wildcats following a heavy defeat in the teams’ first encounter. “In the first half, we kept it a one-point ball game with Hartington leading (20-19).

In the second half, we were only able to muster 11 points. We have had trouble for some time finding points or just a few timely buckets to keep our spirits up.”

Alexa Cunningham and Brooke Kumm led Wausa with eight and seven points respectively.

The Lady Vikings wrapped up the regular season over the weekend in a 52-41 home defeat to Osmond.

“This game was not much different than the Hartington game,” Kirby said. “We fell behind early then had a great second quarter: we scored four points in the first quarter and then 20 in the second.”

Wausa led 24-17 at halftime and 36-32 going into the final eight minutes.

“However, we did not do a great job of moving our feet on defense and sent Osmond to the free-throw line,” Kirby said. “In the second half, Osmond was 17 of 18 from the line. I mean, great job that Osmond was able to take advantage of the opportunity, but we have got to do a better job of not allowing teams free points.”

Blair Wakeley led Wausa with 10 points, while Kumm had eight points, six rebounds, five assists, and seven steals and Morgan Klienschmit aided the attack with eight points.

“We were inconsistent,” Kirby said. “We perform for a short burst, but do not start well or finish well. We have a few girls that at times will play well and then other times struggle. We have looked all year for a few players to be consistent and we just have not gotten to that level.

“Now, I understand our youth may have a factor in this. I have told them this is something they will need to work on over the summer if they want to get to the level they want.”

Kumm says that her final season has been a challenge to keep the Lady Vikings moving forward.

“Our record shows we didn’t get a lot of wins and we made a lot of mistakes and it really showed,” Kumm said. “In reality, I think we took a step toward maturing as basketball players and people and stepping up to a place we were not quite sure we were ready to go.

“That took us quite a bit of time for us to get there and we are still in the process. We all had a goal of we knew where we wanted to be, but not all of us made the effort into doing it. Towards the end of the season, we all stepped up into a role where we should be playing rather than the one, we wanted it to be.”

Kumm said the girls have found that place of where they best benefit the team.

“People stepped up in ways they never thought they would,” Kumm said. “It’s been an interesting season to watch. We had our games and we really didn’t miss out. Yeah, the crowd wasn’t always there which takes away some of the fun. There were quite a few games where people could come and that’s when games were the most fun.

“That’s when you learn to appreciate it.”

Wausa and Osmond faced each other again in SubDistrict action with Osmond earning the win to end the Lady Vikes’ season. Details on that contest will be in next week’s Gazette.

SCORING: WAUSA - Blair Wakeley, 10; Morgan Kleinschmit, 8; Brooke Kumm, 8; Abby Kaiser, 5; Ashlynn Timmerman, 3; Alexa Cunningham, 3; Sienna West, 2; Anika Alonzo, 2.

REBOUNDS: WAUSA - Morgan Kleinschmit, 7; Alexa Cunningham, 6; Brooke Kumm, 6; Blair Wakeley, 3; Abby Kaiser, 2; Christina Martinson, 2; Charlie Price, 2; Sienna West, 1.

ASSISTS: WAUSA - Brooke Kumm, 5; Morgan Kleinschmit, 2; Abby Kaiser, 1; Christina Martinson, 1; Alexa Cunningham, 1; Anika Alonzo, 1.

STEALS: WAUSA - Brooke Kumm, 7; Morgan Kleinschmit, 2; Abby Kaiser, 2; Blair Wakeley, 2; Alexa Cunningham, 2; Christina Martinson, 1; Anika Alonzo, 1.

SCORING: WAUSA - Alexa Cunningham, 8; Brooke Kumm, 7; Morgan Kleinschmit, 5; Sienna West, 4; Abby Kaiser, 3; Blair Wakeley, 3.

REBOUNDS: WAUSA - Alexa Cunningham, 7; Brooke Kumm, 5; Abby Kaiser, 4; Morgan Kleinschmit, 4; Anika Alonzo, 3; Sienna West, 1; Blair Wakeley, 1; Charlie Price, 1.

ASSISTS: WAUSA - Blair Wakeley, 3; Morgan Kleinschmit, 1; Alexa Cunningham, 1; Clara Schindler, 1; Sienna West, 1.

STEALS: WAUSA - Morgan Kleinschmit, 3; Brooke Kumm, 3; Abby Kaiser, 2; Blair Wakeley, 1; Alexa Cunningham, 1; Sienna West, 1.

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