Hours before tipoff, the Fort Calhoun girls basketball team convened Monday morning for a walkthrough practice in preparation for its game against Elmwood-Murdock.
“We just talked about how the team that was more fundamental for 32 minutes at both ends of the floor was, probably, going to be pretty happy,” Pioneers coach Marty Plum said. “And they were more fundamental than us on both ends of the floor.”
FCHS (2-5 overall) opened its home holiday tournament against the Class D1 No. 6 Knights and lost 40-24. Elmwood led 11-3 after one period and 23-11 through one half in earning its fifth win of the season.
Kenzie Hansen, meanwhile, led the Pioneers in defeat with a team-high 11 points. After freshman Maddy Tinkham and Bria Bench combined for Fort Calhoun's first five points, Hansen scored six during the second period to cut her team's deficit from 15 points to 12 at the half.
Bench added six total points for the holiday tourney host, while Abbie Anderson and Dala Drowne notched two apiece.
Before Plum's team was set to face Logan View/Scribner-Snyder on Wednesday, he'd hoped to practice Tuesday to sort out some fundamental miscues.
“We've got to work on us,” he said. “That's the most important thing, working on us. That needs to be the most important thing every time we step onto the floor.”
The coach hoped his team could become more consistent with its fundamentals after its struggles to do so over the first seven games of the season. Teams like Elmwood make teams pay for miscues, Plum noted.
LVSS tops Pioneers
Fort Calhoun lost a 44-23 game to Logan View/Scribner-Snyder on Wednesday, finishing its holiday tournament 0-2. The Pioneers are 2-6 this season.
The Raiders started Wednesday's contest with a 7-0 run before Anderson put the Pioneers on the board with a drive to the bucket. FCHS broke the pressure defense it faced routinely, but had trouble scoring points off of it once it got the ball across half court.
Tinkham finished with six points to lead coach Plum's team, scoring two buckets late during the third quarter to pull the Pioneers within 13 going into the fourth. Grace Schlueter had 13 points for Logan View, however, helping her Raiders hold off FCHS for third in the tourney.
