The Blair girls basketball team led Tuesday's 55-34 win by just two points 8 minutes in.
Coach Matt Aschoff's team kicked it into high gear against Hastings, however, with a 20-6 second period. Junior guard Sophia Wrich may have been the catalyst with a personal 6-0 scoring streak. It pushed a 17-13 Bears lead into a 10-point one.
“I wouldn't say it was just me,” she said after driving all the way to the basket three-straight times. “It was just the team hyping us up and bringing all of the energy.”
Wrich's repeated path to the hoop appeared simple and was, according to her description.
“We just try to shot fake and drive,” the junior said. “Get them to move and then go for it.”
A pair of Addie Sullivan free throws cut off Wrich's streak, but she added her seventh and eighth points of the quarter shortly thereafter. Blair led 32-16 at halftime and 43-25 after three quarters when Leah Chance knocked down a 3-pointer just seconds before the end of the period.
Sullivan eventually finished as the 21-point win's highest scorer, tallying 16 overall. Wrich added 11 and senior guard Kaitlyn Johnson had 10.
“We knew coming into this that we had a break after, so we just wanted to give it our all,” Johnson said.
The Bears now have a NSAA-mandated holiday reprieve from practice before a two-day home tournament set for Dec. 29-30. The basketball team, which qualified for its first state tournament in more than two decades last March, is 7-1 despite a necessary roster reconfiguration due to graduation and a pair of key transfers.
An exhibition loss to Arlington last month was a turning point, Johnson said.
“After that game, we all talked together and we knew that we needed to start passing the ball more,” she explained.
Since, BHS players have improved support of one another and seven wins in eight regular season games. They'll next compete against Aurora, Omaha Gross and Omaha Duchesne for a tourney title on their home floor. Games start 11 a.m. Dec. 29.
BHS BASKETBALL LINE SCORE
Tuesday
Blair 55, Hastings 34
HHS (0-5) 10 6 9 9 — 34
BHS (7-1) 12 20 11 12 — 55
Scoring: BHS — Addie Sullivan 16, Sophia Wrich 11, Kaitlyn Johnson 10, Joslyn Policky 6, Leah Chance 5, Hayden Frink-Mathis 5, Marin Sather 2.
HHS — Emma Landgren 17, Makenzie Nollette 13, Emma Synek 2, Kelyn Henry-Perlich 2.
