Strong start not enough for Coyotes

Facing the big and talented No. 1 seed Hemingford was a tough way to start post season play.

Though Potter-Dix took it to the Bobcats early, Hemingford soon seized control and completed a 65-23 win in the sub-district semifinals on Tuesday night in Mitchell.

The Bobcats will face No. 2 Creek Valley on Thursday night at 6:30 p.m. in the sub-district final at the same venue.

Though the Coyotes ended their season with a record of 10-11, four seniors--Tiffany Lewis, Taylor Juelfs, Morgan Wolff and Lanie Moench--have accumulated memories that will last.

"The past few years have been the best time of my life," said Juelfs.

Though the Coyotes seniors will no doubt take away many enjoyable moments from their final season, the last 32 minutes of their basketball careers proved a struggle.

But Potter-Dix came out of the gate without fear and took just 10 seconds before taking the first lead of the game. With an eye towards the future, the freshmen duo of Dawson Sharman and Alexus Rozelle teamed up to open the scoring. After Sharman converted on Rozelle's pass, Lewis slipped home another layup for a 4-0 lead 44 seconds after the opening tip.

"We knew how good they are, but we came in thinking we could beat them," said Moench. "That's the attitude you have to have. I figured we had at least a 50-50 chance to win."

Though Brooke Turek of Hemingford countered with a three pointer, Sharman answered her with another short bucket, keeping Potter-Dix in charge, 6-3.

Midway through the period Rozelle responded to the Coyotes first deficit with a layup and an 8-7 lead.

Soon after, however, reality began to set in as Hemingford scored the final 15 points of the opening quarter for a 22-8 advantage. The burst took just 4:08 to complete.

Sharman opened the second quarter by scoring even more quickly than she had in the first. Just six seconds in she converted on a Lewis pass. But Potter-Dix could manage just 3 more points in the quarter - all by Brooke Glass.

When the halftime horn sounded Hemingford was on the plus side of a 33-13 score.

"We don't often play teams this aggressive on both offense and defense," said Wolff. "We knew that would be hard to conquer but we all did our best."

Hemingford struck the first blows in the second half with a three pointer by Natalie Gasseling and then a layup by Kaitlyn Bergfield. With a free throw, Rozelle was the only Coyotes player to stretch the twine in the third before Juelfs nailed a three pointer. A Moench 2 pointer was the only other field goal the Coyotes could drain in the third.

The final eight minutes began nearly as the third had. Christian Rozmiarek stirred the nylon from behind the arc for the 'Cats while the Coyotes needed nearly five minutes to score their first field goal.

Moench got the job done after a quick pass from Wolff. Savannah Shaw disturbed the netting late for Potter-Dix.

"There's a lot of good young players here," said Moench. "I'm starting to think about college now. But I look forward to coming back next year and watching my team play."

Sharman led seven Coyotes who scored with 6 points. The others were Moench (4), Glass (3), Rozelle (3), Juelfs (3), Lewis (2) and Shaw (2).

Juelfs had a pair of assists and 3 steals on the night. Sharman also had 3 steals while Rozelle and Wolff each had 2. Lewis was the top rebounder with 8. Wolff and Juelfs each had 5 boards.

Girls Sub-Districts

Hemingford 65

Potter-Dix 23

Linescore

PD 8 5 6 4 - 23

Hem 21 12 13 19 - 65

Coyotes Scoring

Dawson Sharman 6

Lanie Moench 4

Brooke Glass 3

Taylor Juelfs 3

Alexus Rozelle 3

Tiffany Lewis 2

Savannah Shaw 2