The Fort Calhoun girls basketball team spilled blood to beat Tekamah-Herman on Thursday night.
Contact between the Tigers and the hometown Pioneers became more and more frequent as the final buzzer inched closer and FCHS senior Kenzie Hansen took the biggest shot. Blood poured from her nose with 2:37 remaining, but the Pioneers answered the big blow with their own from the foul line and won 41-32.
After briefly leaving the gym with blood running down her arms, Hansen returned to the bench as coach Marty Plum's team registered its third win of the season and first since Dec. 19. The victory was the first-year Pioneer coach's 200th overall.
“The thing I really like about this group is they have really bought into the toughness part of our 'ATTACK' culture,” the coach said. “I told them when I took over, 'We will not back down from anybody.' And, you will not be allowed to back down from any sort of situation. 'You've got to be tough.'”
Calhoun junior Tess Skelton scored a team-high 15 points, including four from the foul line during the final quarter. She and senior Abbie Anderson were 8-for-8 down the stretch to put Tekamah away.
“After Kenz got hurt, we really wanted to do it for her,” Skelton said. “It's a bummer getting injured.”
The clutch foul shot performance came just two days after the Pioneers failed to put Omaha Brownell-Talbot away in a Jan. 19 road loss.
“We left a lot of points on the floor (against Brownell-Talbot),” Plum said. “And we had a firm discussion yesterday in practice, and the kids really responded.”
Skelton said the Pioneers focused during that practice as they worked to improve their shooting percentage from the charity stripe.
“I think that was one of our best games,” she said. “We stayed calm. We controlled what we could control, and when the other team was getting rough, we stayed composed.”
“The kids stepped up, went to the free throw line, knocked them down and finished the game like champions,” Plum added.
Fort Calhoun entered the fourth period with a 28-27 advantage thanks to freshman Bria Bench, who score every point of the Pioneers' 7-4 third. She went onto score 10 FCHS points in a row with two 3-point makes.
“Bria has done a great job since last spring just working her tail off to make herself into a really good basketball player,” Plum said. “The best is yet to come with that young lady if she continues to work at the level she's working at.”
Thursday's effort helped push the Pioneers to their eventual, gutty victory. They earned it without four regular contributors who were either injured — including Hansen — or had fouled out on the floor. Plum credited his team's toughness and dismissed his own efforts in notching his 200th career win.
“I've been really lucky to coach a lot of good players,” he said. “I just want to continue to move this forward for the kids because they're great kids.”
Pioneers split games with NCC foes
The Pioneers spent the next two days on the road, going 1-1 against Nebraska Capitol Conference foes.
First, Plum's team lost a 42-39 game at Conestoga despite a nine-point advantage going into the fourth period. It lost the quarter 19-7 and fell by three.
Anderson's 3-point attempt just before the final buzzer came up empty as the Pioneers suffered their 13th loss. Hansen led the team with 12 points in defeat, while Skelton had 11.
Then, on Saturday, FCHS traveled to Raymond Central to compete in the first round of the conference tournament. It bested the Mustangs 37-33, its 14-point lead through three quarters holding up despite just three fourth-period points.
The Pioneers opened the game with makes from beyond the 3-point arc and finished the first quarter with an 8-7 advantage. That lead jumped to seven points at the half and extended to double digits on a Skelton layup during the third period. The junior guard — who finished with a game-high 18 points — picked up a loose ball, pivoted around a defender in transition and scored the ball with her right hand off of the glass.
The win boosted Fort Calhoun's season record to 4-13.
