Wallace girls fourth in RPAC tournament

This year’s Wallace girls’ basketball reached the semifinals of the RPAC basketball tournament for the first time since 2017 with a victory over Wauneta-Palisade last week. Picking up a win in the semifinals and consolation game was a tougher job and the Wildcats finished fourth in the tournament.
Maywood/Hayes Center
The Wildcats ran into eventual RPAC champ Maywood/Hayes Center in the semifinals at Maxwell Thursday. The Wolves (19-1) are ranked fifth in Class D2.
MHC held Wallace to no field goals in the first half. The Wildcats made 3-6 free throws for their only points in the game’s first 16 minutes.
Mariah Gardner scored six points in the third quarter and Karlie Finley added four points.
Kendyl Flaming scored all six of Wallace’s fourth quarter points. The Wildcats lost the game 16-40.
Gardner finished with seven points and five rebounds. Finley had six points and six rebounds.
Wallace girls 16
MHC 40
    2 PT.    3 PT.    FT/
    FG    FG    FTA    F    TP
Kendyl Flaming    1    0    1-4    1    3
Denay Pelster    0    0    0-1    2    0
Karlie Finley    1    0    4-4    0    6
Reagan Pelster    0    0    0-0    1    0
Dajana Garrison    0    0    0-0    2    0
Mariah Gardner    3    0    1-4    2    7
TOTALS    5    0    6-13    8    16
MHC TOTALS    14    2    6-10    16    40
Points by quarters:
Wallace    0    3    10    3—16
MHC    12    5    15    8—40
Cambridge
 Wallace faced Cambridge (13-6) in the consolation game Saturday in McCook
It was a low scoring first half.
After a bucket by Gardner started off Wallace scoring, the Wildcats’ only other first quarter points came by way of two free throws by Flaming.
The Wildcats’ defense kept them in the game. Wallace held Cambridge to two field goals and one free throw in the second quarter and cut into the Trojans’ lead.
Wallace made four more free throws in the second quarter before making another field goal. Both second quarter baskets were made by Flaming. Those would be Wallace’s final field goals of the game.
The Wildcats trailed 12-17 at halftime.
Cambridge pulled away in the second half when all of Wallace’s points came at the charity stripe in the 16-39 loss.
Flaming led Wallace with seven points. Finley pulled down 16 rebounds.
Wallace girls 16
Cambridge 39
    2 PT.    3 PT.    FT/
    FG    FG    FTA    F    TP
Kendyl Flaming    2    0    3-4    1    7
Denay Pelster    0    0    0-0    3    0
Karlie Finley    0    0    3-6    3    3
Reagan Pelster    0    0    2-3    3    2
Dajana Garrison    0    0    0-0    3    0
Mariah Gardner    1    0    1-1    3    3
Ainsley Strawder    0    0    1-2    1    1
TOTALS    3    0    10-17    16    16
CHS TOTALS    15    0    9-17    16    39
Points by quarters:
Wallace    4    8    1    3—16
Cambridge    12    5    12    10—39
Up next
With a season average of 50 points per game, Sullivan is hopeful Wallace can get its offense back on track this week.
“It’s all mental right now,” Sullivan said, adding his players have to have confidence that they will score.
“Shooting is contagious. When a few crazy shots go in a lot of shots go in,” he said.
“We have to get back in our groove and do the little things.”
Wallace put its 10-7 record on the line Tuesday night against 0-18 Brady.
Friday the Wildcats will be at Maxwell (4-14).
Wallace’s two remaining regular season games will be Feb. 8 at home against Southwest (9-8) and at Hitchcock County (7-10) Feb. 11.
Games through Feb. 8 count towards a team’s point standings for subdistrict seeding. The top team in the point standings will host the tournament.
Subdistricts will be played Feb. 14, 15 and 17. All district finals for Classes C1, C2, D1 and D2 will be played Feb. 25.
The state tournament will have a different look this year. With Nebraska hosting the Big 10 wrestling championships, the girls’ and boys’ state tournaments will be played concurrently. First round games for Classes A, C1 and D2 girls will be played March 7, the semifinals on March 9 and the finals on March 11. Boys in Classes B, C2 and D1 will play those days as well.
Classes B, C2 and D1 girls and A, C1 and D2 boys will have first round games March 8, semifinals March 10 and finals March 12.
Class D2 Girls’ Point Standings—1. Falls City Sacred Heart (16-3), 46.5789; 2. Humphrey St. Francis (17-3), 45.3000; 3. Anselmo-Merna (14-5), 45.0000; 4. St. Mary’s (13-4), 44.8824; 5. Sterling (14-4), 44.7778; 6. Maywood-Hayes Center (19-1), 44.7500; 7. Crawford (14-4), 44.3333; 8. Wynot (11-7), 44.2222; 9. Diller-Odell (10-5), 43.9333; 10. Silver Lake (12-4), 43.5625; 11. Wauneta-Palisade (13-5), 43.3889; 22. Wallace (10-7), 41.2941; 32. Paxton (7-10), 39.4706; 42. Dundy County Stratton (1-18), 37.7895. D2-9 Subdistrict in bold.