THS girls win tourney opener

Andrew Towne
Posted 12/29/21

SIDNEY, Neb. – The Torrington High School girls’ basketball team won its opener at the annual Sidney Holiday Tournament on Monday afternoon 57-44 over the McCook (Nebraska) Lady Bison.

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THS girls win tourney opener

Posted

SIDNEY, Neb. – The Torrington High School girls’ basketball team won its opener at the annual Sidney Holiday Tournament on Monday afternoon 57-44 over the McCook (Nebraska) Lady Bison.

The Lady Blazers got off to a quick start, grabbing an early 9-5 lead. It forced McCook to use a quick timeout midway through the first quarter, but it wasn’t until after the timeout when Torrington started to put some distance between itself and McCook.

“The first quarter, quarter and a half, we came out and smacked them in the face,” THS coach Jeff Halley said. “We thought we could outrun them, and we did. They came out and played and had fun.”

By the end of the first half, Torrington’s lead was 22-11, but with 2:52 left before halftime, a buck by senior forward Sierra Allen pushed the Lady Blazer lead to 36-13.

Then complacency set in, and it wasn’t long after the score when the momentum shifted in McCook’s favor.

The Lady Bison went on an 11-2 run to close out the second quarter, cutting the Torrington lead to 38-24 at the break.

“Then we got complacent,” Halley said. “We thought it was going to be easy, and then McCook woke up.”

The Lady Bison trap caused Torrington some issues.

“We never see a 2-2-1 press, and it gave us some fits,” Halley said.

The teams played even throughout the second half, as the Lady Bison got no closer than 12 points in the second half.

Halley was pleased with how the team responded in the second half.

“We knew we should have been in a battle. It was,” he said. “I though the whole second half team was the team we were going to have to face today.”

The win advanced the Lady Blazers to the semifinal round of the tournament.

Senior Reece Halley led Torrington with 17 points, 13 rebounds, four steals and two blocks, while Allen had 15 points and eight rebounds. Seniors Mattie Jones and Avery West tossed in nine points each.

The Sidney Holiday Tournament wraps up on Wednesday.